UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 


8  3955 


AND  THE  BREED 


DAVID    STARR  JORDAN 


wm  ^ 

^0.-^ 


UNtVl    b-TY  OF 
CAL!FORNIA 
SAN  DIE0O 


oH«,fflaswfflf(ff"|'«° 


.„, r. 

';g5't)1718  3955 


Tl 


Central  University  Library 

Un,versi,y  Of  California.  San  Diego 
Please  Note:  This  «em  is  3ub;ec„oreca.,. 

Date  Due 


CI  39  (7/93) 


UCSD  Lib. 


WAR  AND  THE 
BREED 

The  Relation  of  War  to  the 
Downfall  of  Nations 


BY 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN 

chancellor  ofLeland  Stanford  Junior  University 


BOSTON 

THE    BEACON    PRESS 

25  BEACON  STREET 


G^OG 


■Xi:. 


LIBRARY 

SCR.IPPS      INSTITUTION 

OF  OCEANOGRAPHY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

LA  JOLLA.  CALIFORNIA 


G^OG 


Copyright,  1915 
The    Beacon   Press,  Inc. 


To 
ANDREW   DICKSON   WHITE 

who  taught  me  to  see  in 

HISTORY 

not  a  succession  of  events, 

but  a  segment  of  human  life. 


evaipetv.     (Sophocles:    the    Phrygians) 

Since  individuals   pass  away,   parenthood   is 
the  supreme  factor  in  the  destiny  of  nations. 


(Saleeby) 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

This  book  is  written  to  show  the  relation  of 
war  to  the  downfall  of  nations.  The  certainty 
that  war  leads  toward  racial  decadence  by  the 
obliteration  of  the  most  virile  elements,  these 
being  thereby  left  unrepresented  in  heredity,  is 
becoming  widely  accepted  as  the  crucial  argu- 
ment against  the  War  System  of  the  world, 
standing  second  only  to  the  final  argument  of 
the  human  conscience  that  murder  remains  mur- 
der even  when  done  on  a  gigantic  scale  under 
the  sanction  of  the  state  and  the  blessing  of  the 
church. 

The  same  topic  is  treated  in  two  previous 
essays,  the  one  originally  delivered  at  Stanford 
University  in  1899  and  reprinted  by  the  World 
Peace  Foundation  under  the  title  The  Blood  of 
the  Nation;  the  other  read  at  Philadelphia  in 
1906,  before  the  American  Philosophical  So- 
ciety, at  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  bearing  the 
title  The  Human  Harvest.  This  last  is  pub- 
lished by  the  Beacon  Press  of  Boston. 

The  present  volume  has  been  entirely  rewrit- 
ten. In  it  the  author  has  corrected  some  errors 
and  has  tried  to  bring  the  subject-matter  up  to 
date  by  the  use  of  results  of  recent  studies,  es- 
pecially those  of  Professor  Vernon  Lyman  Kel- 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


logg,  Dr.  Caleb  William  Saleeby  of  London, 
and  M.  Vacher  de  La  Pouge  of  Paris.  When 
the  first  essay  was  written  its  thesis  was  almost 
unknown  to  the  general  public.  Only  Darwin, 
Spencer,  Novicow,  La  Pouge,  Seeck,  and 
Haeckel  of  modern  writers,  so  far  as  known, 
had  then  laid  any  stress  on  the  effects  of  military 
selection.  There  is  now  a  large  and  growing 
literature  on  the  subject,  scattered  in  periodicals 
in  various  languages. 

At  the  close  of  the  book  the  writer  has 
permitted  himself  a  digression  or  two  as  to  past 
and  future  world-movements. 

He  is  under  special  obligation  to  his  col- 
league, Professor  Vernon  Lyman  Kellogg,  for 
valuable  materials,  and  to  his  wife,  Jessie 
Knight  Jordan,  for  much  helpful  collaboration. 

D.  S.  J. 

Stanford    University,    California. 
March  20,  1915. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.    INTRODUCTION        i 

II.    FACTORS  IN  ORGANIC  EVOLUTION       .     .  3 

Organic  Evolution 3 

Variation   .     • 4 

Heredity 5 

Selection 7 

Segregation 9 

Reversal  of  Selection 10 

III.  HUMAN  GENETICS 12 

Nature  and  Nurture 12 

Meaning  of  Human  Progress 14 

Blood  Will  Tell 15 

Artificial   Selection 16 

Return  of  the  Fairies 17 

Value  of  Individual  Initiative 19 

Law  of  Quetelet 22 

Workings  of  Primogeniture 23 

Effects  of  Race  Poisons 25 

Racial  Loss  through  Emigration     ....  27 

Racial  Loss  through  Immigration    ....  28 

Racial  Inequality 32 

IV.  THE  WAR  SYSTEM  AND  MILITARISM  .      .  34 

The  War  System 34 

Militarism 38 

Militarism  and  Industrialism 41 

Militarism  and  Private  Right 42 

Militarism  and  Nationality 45 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

V.    THE  WAR  SYSTEM  AND  RACE  SELECTION  47 

Franklin's   Views 47 

Other  Early  Observations 49 

Novicow  and  Richet 52 

War  as  Race  Suicide 57 

War  and  Stature 61 

Ammon's  Argument 67 

Observations  of  La  Pouge 69 

Traumatic  Neurosis 73 

Hrdlicka's  Observations 73 

Battlefield  Infections 77 

Losses  in  War 79 

Are  there  Compensations? 82 

Ruskin's  Testimony 88 

Social  Darwinism 90 

Do  We  Exaggerate? 98 

VI.     MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION   .     .     .     .     .     .  loi 

The  Nation  in  Arms    .     , loi 

Compulsory  Service loi 

Military  Drill  as  Physical  Training  .     .     .104 

The  Boy  Scouts 108 

The  Australian  Plan 109 

Eugenics  of  Conscription no 

VII.    THE  WAR  SYSTEM  AND  WOMEN       .     .      .   n8 

Selection  among  Women 118 

The  Barbaric  Drop 119 

Womanhood  and  War 120 

War  Brides 123 

Excess  of  Women  after  War 126 

VIII.    WAR      SELECTION      IN      THE      ANCIENT 

WORLD 128 

The  Fall  of  Rome 128 

Seeck's  Interpretation 134 

Effects  of  Race  Crossing 138 


CONTENTS 

PACE 

Greece       141 

Macedonia 146 

Samarkand 148 

IX.     MILITARISM    AND    WAR    SELECTION    IN 

WESTERN    EUROPE 150 

France       150 

Spain 161 

Paraguay 163 

Germany 164 

X.    MILITARISM    AND    WAR    SELECTION    IN 

GREAT    BRITAIN 172 

Cost  of  Empire 172 

The  Picked  Half  Million 178 

Tommy  Atkins 183 

The  Non-resistants 184 

Scotland 185 

XL    THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  WAR      .     .     .190 

War  Selection  and  the  Republic     ....   190 
War's  Aftermath  in  Virginia 194 


XIL    DOES  HUMAN  NATURE  CHANGE?     .     .     .199 

How  Human  Nature  Changes 199 

The  Visionary  in  History 201 

XIIL    AFTER  WAR,  WHAT? 215 


APPENDIX 

A    The  Long  Cost  of  War  :  Saleeby  .     . 
B    Military  Training  in  the  Schools:  Impey 
C    Military  Service  in  Germany:  Villard  . 
D    Military  Service  in  France:  Guerard     . 
E    A  Digression  on  Uniforms:  Gardiner    . 


223 
223 
225 
230 
234 
24s 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

F    The  Queen's  Daughters  in  India:  Andrew  and 

BusHNELL 246 

G     SiMPLICIUS   SiMPLICISSIMUS:   Grimmelshausen      .    250 
H    Decline  of  German  Literature  in  the  Thir- 
teenth Century:  Rendtorff 252 

I     Peace  and  Degeneracy:  Irwin 264 


WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

I.     INTRODUCTION 

This  book  is  a  study  of  the  War  System  in 
its  relations  to  the  human  race  and  racial  de- 
velopment. 

It  is  written  in  March,  19 15,  in  the  midst  of 
the  most  ruinous  war  the  world  has  ever  known, 
a  war  in  which  the  manhood  of  the  race  has 
been  wasted  as  never  before  in  human  history, 
a  war  from  which  every  nation  concerned  will 
awaken  exhausted  and  humiliated  for  genera- 
tions to  come,  its  people  less  courageous,  less 
wise,  and  feebler  in  body  and  spirit  than  they 
were  before  this  terrible  and  senseless  sacrifice. 
The  lesson  this  book  hopes  to  teach  was  stated 
by  Charles  Darwin  in  1871,  in  characteristic- 
ally terse  fashion.  In  the  Descent  of  Man  he 
says: 

"  In  every  country  in  which  a  standing  army 
is  kept  up,  the  fairest  young  men  are  taken  to 
the  conscription  camp  or  are  enlisted.  They 
are  thus  exposed  to  early  death  during  war  or 
are  often  tempted  into  vice,  and  are  prevented 
from  marrying  during  the  prime  of  life.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  shorter  and  feebler  men  with 


WAR  AND  THE  BREED 


poor  constitutions  are  left  at  home  and  conse- 
quently have  a  much  better  chance  of  marrying 
and  propagating  their  kind." 

It  Is  apparent  that  armies  demand  men  above 
the  average  in  physical  efficiency.  It  is  plain 
that  the  most  energetic  and  intelligent  among 
these  make  the  best  soldiers.  It  is  recognized 
that  those  who  fight  best  suffer  the  most  in  ac- 
tion, while  the  demands  of  battle  and  camp  cut 
off  men  in  the  prime  of  life  from  normal  parent- 
hood. This  leaves  the  weaker  elements  of  one 
kind  or  another  to  be  the  fathers  of  the  coming 
generations.  By  the  law  of  heredity,  like  the 
seed  is  the  harvest,  and  the  future  of  the  race 
repeats  the  qualities  of  those  war  does  not  use. 
This  thesis  is  logically  without  flaw,  but  to  de- 
monstrate its  actual  validity  through  the  results 
of  the  experiments  of  nations  is  a  task  of  the 
most  complex  character.  For  a  nation  does  not 
miss  that  which  it  has  not  had,  and  all  consider- 
ations of  value  of  strains  of  inheritance  are 
mixed  inextricably  with  results  of  education,  or- 
ganization, commerce,  industrialism,  opportu- 
nity and  emigration,  influences  which  may  seem 
to  transform  a  nation  In  a  manner  quite  indepen- 
dent of  the  real  capacity  of  its  people.  How- 
ever, to  show  that  the  thesis  is  true  In  fact  as 
well  as  sound  in  theory,  is  the  purpose  of  this 
book. 


11.     FACTORS  IN  ORGANIC 
EVOLUTION 

Organic  Evolution 

The  term  "  Organic  Evolution  "  applies  to 
the  orderly  changes  which  are  now  taking  place, 
or  which  have  in  the  past  taken  place  in  living 
forms,  from  generation  to  generation.  In  this 
movement  the  natural  history  of  humanity,  its 
divergence  into  species,  races  and  strains,  forms 
an  integral  part.  For  man  is  "  part  and  parcel 
of  nature,"  governed  by  the  same  laws  of  birth, 
growth  and  development  as  the  higher  animals, 
laws  shared  in  their  degree  by  our  other 
"  brother  organisms,  the  plants,"  as  well.  Life 
in  its  endless  movement  we  may  perhaps  liken  to 
a  great  river,  flowing  continuously,  dividing  at 
times  into  smaller  streams,  purifying  itself  as 
it  flows  along  and  dropping  to  the  bottom  its 
silt  and  mud. 

So  too  the  stream  of  life  diverges,  throw- 
ing off  races  and  species  as  it  flows,  and  purify- 
ing itself  through  the  process  of  "  Natural  Se- 
lection," that  is,  through  the  survival  of  those 
organisms  adapted  to  their  environment,  while 
at  the  same  time  the  weak,  the  ill-begotten  and 
the  unfitting  are  left  without  progeny.  Thus  a 
race  of  organisms,  man,  animal,  or  plant,  comes 

3 


WAR  AND  THE  BREED 


to  fit  its  environment  as  a  river  fits  its  bed. 

The  river  is  made  up  of  simple  molecules, 
alike  in  structure  and  unchanging  in  space  or 
time.  In  the  stream  of  life,  on  the  contrary,  no 
two  individuals  are  quite  the  same.  Each  one 
is  plastic,  molded  by  its  environment.  Each 
has  its  reactions,  by  which  it  resists  environ- 
ment. Incessantly,  the  substance  of  each  or- 
ganism is  being  worn  away,  to  be  swiftly  replen- 
ished in  endless  round.  In  each  appears  the 
miracle  of  birth  and  life  and  death;  conception, 
assimilation,  growth,  differentiation  and  disso- 
lution. And  in  the  human  race,  the  most  com- 
plex of  all  organisms,  we  have  all  the  phenom- 
ena of  life  developed  to  the  highest  degree. 

The  process  of  evolution  in  man,  as  in  the 
lower  animals  and  plants,  represents  a  series  of 
relations  of  cause  and  effect.  Plainly  each 
change  from  generation  to  generation  must  have 
some  efficient  cause.  These  causes  are  known 
as  the  Factors  in  Organic  Evolution.  There 
may  be  many  of  these  factors,  acting  and  inter- 
acting. Four  of  them  there  are,  at  least,  potent 
in  the  life  of  every  animal  and  plant,  and  from 
the  operations  of  which  no  organism  can  es- 
cape. These  four  are  known  as  Variation, 
Heredity,  Selection  and  Segregation. 

Variation 

Variation  is  an  attribute  universal  in  the  or- 
ganic world.     By  its  operation,  no  two  indi- 


ORGANIC  EVOLUTION 


viduals  of  any  species,  not  even  of  one  house- 
hold, were  ever  exactly  alike.  No  man,  no 
animal,  no  germ-cell  even,  was  ever  an  exact 
copy  of  any  other.  For,  with  scanty  exceptions, 
throughout  nature  every  organism  has  two  par- 
ents, and  this  phenomenon  of  double  parentage 
is  the  leading  agency  in  the  promotion  of  varia- 
tion. The  hereditary  traits  of  each  individual, 
"  unit  characters  "  as  they  are  termed,  are  de- 
rived half  from  one  parent  and  from  that  par- 
ent's ancestry,  half  from  the  other  and  from 
his  ancestry.  Each  thus  begins  life  as  a  mosaic 
of  inherited  characteristics,  and  the  finished 
combination  can  never  be  twice  the  same.  Fur- 
ther It  must  be  noted  that  each  Individual  arises 
In  the  beginning  from  the  blending  of  two  germ- 
cells,  the  male  and  the  female.  Each  of  these 
germ-cells  when  matured  and  fit  for  concep- 
tion, contains  but  half  of  the  original  hereditary 
material  of  an  ordinary  cell.  It  needs  union 
with  another  half-cell  of  the  opposite  sex  to 
begin  its  organic  development.  There  are 
many  theories  as  to  the  origin  of  variation,  but 
in  any  event  there  is  no  question  as  to  the  fact. 
And  on  the  foundation  of  variation,  the  ramifi- 
cations of  species  in  the  organic  world  take  their 
rise. 

Heredity 

Heredity  is  the  element  of  continuity  in  life. 
Reproduction    is    one    of    the    great    cardinal 


WAR  AND  THE  BREED 


functions  of  living  organisms.  Heredity  is  the 
force  or  law  or  fact  by  which  the  new  organism 
is  like  its  parentage.  Each  organism  passes 
through  its  cycle  of  life,  each  made  up  of  chang- 
ing atoms,  changing  centers  of  energy,  changing 
tissues  and  changing  organs,  each  at  the  same 
time  having  the  power  to  cast  off  cells  which  In 
proper  union  with  like  cells  and  under  proper 
conditions,  will  develop  organisms  essentially 
like  the  parents,  differing  only  within  the  limits 
of  the  play  of  variation.  "Like  produces  like," 
but  never  quite  alike.  Heredity  and  Variation 
are  twins  inseparable. 

The  more  uniform  the  ancestry,  the  less  varia- 
tion in  the  progeny.  Hence  the  crossing  of  two 
strains  within  the  same  species  produces  less 
variation  than  results  from  the  crossing  of  dif- 
ferent but  related  species.  Species  widely  dif- 
ferent cannot  be  crossed  at  all. 

Among  men,  Individual  differences  may  be 
much  greater  than  in  the  lower  forms.  Ani- 
mals mate  in  their  own  localized  groups, 
whereas  men  may  range  widely.  Thus  It  comes 
about  that  each  individual  man  or  woman  is  in 
some  sense  a  hybrid,  the  result  of  a  mingling 
of  different  strains.  The  laws  that  govern 
cross-matlngs  are  very  complex  and  imperfectly 
understood.  And  no  one  can  tell  from  the 
parentage  exactly  what  the  offspring  will  be. 
But  we  may  be  sure  of  some  things  It  will  not  be. 
The  stream  of  heredity  will  not  rise  above  its 


ORGANIC  E\  OLUTION 


source.  No  child  will  exceed  its  ancestral  po- 
tentials on  one  side  or  the  other.  We  shall 
not  gather  grapes  from  thorns  nor  figs  from 
thistles.  Moreover,  in  heredity,  mediocrity  is 
prepotent  over  genius,  and  quality  of  talent  over 
intensity.  And  again,  a  well-marked  trait  may 
sometimes  lie  latent  or  recessive  for  a  genera- 
tion or  more.  Still  again  virile  traits,  neces- 
sarily recessive  in  the  daughter,  may  reappear  in 
the  grandson. 

We  cannot  here  take  up  in  any  detail  the  sub- 
ject of  heredity.  Enough  to  say  that  its  laws 
are  essentially  the  same  throughout  all  living 
things,  the  variations  being  dependent  on  dif- 
ferences in  life  history.  With  the  animal  forms 
nearest  man  In  structure,  the  details  of  heredity 
become  more  and  more  similar,  or  even  identical 
with  those  of  man. 

Selection 

Variation  and  heredity  are  names  for  forces 
resident  within  the  organism.  Heredity  is 
never  unchecked  by  variation.  Variation  is  an 
integral  part  of  heredity.  Selection  and  segre- 
gation on  the  other  hand  represent  intrusions 
of  the  environment.  These  shape  the  course 
of  evolution  by  determining  the  individual  that 
shall  survive  or  by  limiting  the  range  of  its  mat- 
ing. 

Selection  is  the  process  by  which  an  organism 
which  cannot  hold  its  own  in  its  surroundings  is 


8  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

destroyed.  Only  those  survive  which  can  live 
in  the  actual  conditions  and  only  those  which  do 
survive  are  repeated  in  their  progeny.  This 
process  as  occurring  In  nature,  ''  Natural  SeleC' 
tion  "  as  Darwin  called  it,  leads  to  the  "  Sur- 
vival of  the  Fittest,"  not  necessarily  of  the 
largest  nor  the  fairest  nor  the  best,  but  of  those 
who  can  maintain  themselves  in  the  world  as 
they  find  It.  Natural  ^  selection,  blind  choice  in 
nature,  goes  on  constantly,  generation  after 
generation,  among  all  living  creatures.  En- 
vironment constantly  challenges  the  right  to 
live,  and  the  organism  that  overcomes,  be  it 
man  or  fly  or  sea-weed,  constantly  meets  that 
challenge. 

The  continuance  of  any  stock  demands  per- 
sistent victory.  Each  individual  man  or 
woman,  animal  or  plant,  represents  success  in 
escaping  from  the  vicissitudes  of  all  the  ages, 
of  overcoming  the  million  chances  of  millions 
of  varied  changes  of  environment.  Of  all  our 
countless  ancestors,  "  numberless  out  of  the  end- 
less ages,"  not  a  single  one,  brute  or  man,  ever 
died  In  infancy,  an  amazing  record  were  It  not 
shared  by  every  living  creature  on  the  whole 
Earth ! 

1  For  the  interposition  of  the  hand  of  man  modifying  con- 
ditions of  survival,  the  term  Artificial  Selection  is  used. 
This   is   discussed   further  on. 


ORGANIC  EVOLUTION 


Segregation 

The  fourth  great  factor  of  evolution  is  the 
negative  one  of  Segregation,  or  Isolation.  The 
world  on  which  we  live  has  its  mountains  and  its 
valleys,  its  rocks  and  seas,  its  land  and  water 
barriers,  its  barriers  of  climate,  rainfall,  ene- 
mies and  food.  Every  species  or  kind  of  or- 
ganism, man  included,  must  fit  the  surroundings 
it  has  or  can  secure.  Thus  races  are  estab- 
lished, not  by  the  direct  effect  of  climate  or  food, 
so  far  as  we  know,  but  by  varying  degrees  of 
adaptation  to  actual  conditions.  A  race  once 
established,  the  barriers  which  prevent  crossing 
with  other  races  tend  to  keep  it  permanent. 
Any  race  or  species  of  man,  as  of  other  animals 
or  plants,  is  thus  in  a  degree  a  product  of  Geog- 
raphy. 

Physical  obstacles  prevent  intermingling  of 
different  types.  "  Migration  keeps  a  species 
true;  localization  lets  it  slip."  That  is,  locali- 
zation permits  the  development  of  minor  pe- 
culiarities which  would  have  been  lost  in  the 
free  interbreeding  of  migration.  And  in  such 
separations  and  migrations  most  of  the  differ- 
ences of  species  or  race  among  organisms  have 
their  origin  and  their  permanence.  The  begin- 
ning of  races  and  of  species  in  most  cases  is  due 
to  some  initial  variation,  larger  or  smaller,  em- 
phasized or  maintained  in  environment,  and  to 
the  protection  of  some  barrier  which  shuts  off 


10  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

a  group  from  the  one  from  which  it  has  di- 
verged. And  thus  in  a  negative  way,  through 
limitations  to  movement  and  separations  due 
to  natural  causes,  have  arisen  most  of  the  differ- 
ences among  men  as  to  race,  nation,  language 
or  religion. 

Reversal  of  Selection 

Reversal  of  selection  Is  the  process  by  which 
those  organisms  best  fitted  to  survive  under  nor- 
mal conditions  are  destroyed,  while  inferior 
types  are  thus  left  to  reproduce  the  species. 
Similar  states  may  be  brought  about  artificially 
by  a  change  in  the  conditions  of  survival.  In 
human  affairs  such  reversal  of  selection  is  the 
necessary  result  of  the  war  system, ^  as  this  book 
will  endeavor  to  show. 

War  is,  of  course,  not  the  only  reversal  factor 
in  modern  civilization.  There  are  numerous 
other  elements  of  varying  importance  which 
tend  to  reverse  the  natural  processes  of  selec- 
tion. Chief  among  these  are  the  effects  of 
Emigration  and  Immigration,  both  briefly 
treated  in  another  chapter.  The  various  rami- 
fications of  Charity,  wise  and  unwise,  constitute 
another  important  factor.  By  unwise  charity, 
pauperism  is  helped  to  perpetuate  itself,  feeble- 
mindedness becomes  the  heritage  of  future  gen- 
erations, and  races  of  idiots  and  criminals  have 

2 "  La    guerre    a    produit    en   tout   temps   une    selection    a 
rebours."      (Novicow.) 


ORGANIC  EVOLUTION  ii 

been  created.  By  wise  charity  the  lives  of  many 
of  the  physically  weak  have  been  saved  or  en- 
riched to  the  advantage  of  human  character,  but 
not  to  the  physical  gain  of  the  race. 

The  development  of  a  priesthood  bound  by 
Celibacy  has  been  a  loss  to  religion,  debarring 
piety  as  it  has  from  reproducing  itself  in  prog- 
eny. The  conditions  of  personal  success  in  pro- 
fessional life  now  tend  also  to  enforce  Celibacy 
on  women  of  superior  ability,  and  have  delayed 
marriage  on  the  part  of  men.  These  factors 
on  the  whole  may  work  to  the  advantage  of 
present  day  society,  but  certainly  at  the  expense 
of  future  racial  welfare. 

Vice,  alcoholism,  the  use  of  drugs,  the  losses 
of  industrialism,  are  elements  to  be  investigated 
by  the  student  of  social  movements,  but  for  the 
present  we  have  only  to  consider  those  factors 
in  reversal  of  selection  which  are  connected  with 
the  main  agency,  War. 


III.     HUMAN  GENETICS 

Nature  and  Nurture 

Genetics  is  the  science  of  birth,  development 
and  heredity  among  living  organisms.  Eugen- 
ics ^  is  the  science  and  art  which  treats  of  condi- 
tions under  which  a  human  being  may  be  well 
born.  As  defined  by  Francis  Galton  who  first 
devised  the  word,  it  had  a  broader  scope  than 
this,  including  Eiithenics,  or  the  science  and  art 
of  being  well  brought  up.  Galton's  last  defi- 
nition (1904)  was  the  following:  "Eugenics 
is  the  science  which  deals  with  all  influences 
which  improve  the  inborn  characters  of  a  race, 
also  with  those  which  develop  them  to  the  ut- 
most advantage."  Recent  writers  have  sepa- 
rated the  second  element  under  the  name  Eu- 
thenics.  The  opposite  of  Eugenics,  that  is,  the 
promotion  of  ill-birth,  is  termed  Dysgenics.  In 
like  fashion,  bad  rearing  is  called  Dysthenics. 
Eugenics  and  Euthenics  correspond  to  "  Nature 
and  Nurture,"  as  earlier  defined  by  Mr.  Galton. 
Eugenics  and  Euthenics  must  supplement  each 
other.     Nature  depends  on  Nurture  for  normal 

1  'Eiiyevela^  the  condition  of  being  well-born ;   Eu5eve/a,  the 
condition  of  being  well  brought  up. 

12 


HUMAN  GENETICS  13 

development.  Nurture  can  modify  but  not 
create.^  With  the  function  of  conception,  "  the 
gate  of  gifts  is  closed."  The  organism  may 
then  make  the  most  of  the  potentialities  heredity 
has  granted  it.  It  can  secure  nothing  more, 
though  use  and  disuse  may  greatly  modify  the 
relative  relations  of  its  inborn  powers.  Nur- 
ture can  do  wonders  with  man,  but  it  cannot 
alter  the  Nature  he  is  to  transmit  to  his  descend- 
ants. Bad  surroundings  may  spoil  a  child  of 
good  stock,  but  good  surroundings  can  never 
change  a  bad  breed  into  a  good  one.  It  is  a 
Danish  proverb  that  "  It  does  no  harm  to  be 
born  in  a  duck-yard,  if  one  is  laid  in  a  swan's 

In  this  fact  of  the  persistence  of  qualities  in 
the  germ-plasm  lies  the  hope  of  the  children  of 
the  very  poor  and  the  very  rich.  They  inherit 
the  possibilities,  not  the  actualities  of  their  par- 
ents, spoiled  or  injured  by  bad  nurture.  Their 
inheritance  is  a  resultant  of  what  their  father 
and  mother  might  have  been,  not  (disease  or 
race  poison  excepted)  of  what  they  actually  are. 

In  every  race  group,  no  matter  how  small, 
some  families  or  family  strains  will  be  gifted 
above  others.  The  best  of  every  group  con- 
stitute the  basis  of  its  eugenic  progress.  There 
are  very  many  types  of  fitness,  physical,  mental, 
ethical,  as  many  as  there  are  forms  of  success 

- "  Nature  is  obstinate  and  will  come  running  back  even 
though  you  expel  her  with  a  fork."     (Carlyle.) 


14  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

or  of  usefulness  in  life.  There  are  thus  num- 
berless elements  Involved  in  racial  advance. 
And  the  best  in  one  of  the  races  considered 
lower  may  have  greater  potential  value  than  the 
less  desirable  of  a  race  admittedly  higher  as  a 
whole. 

Meaning  of  Human  Progress 

The  word  "  progress  "  is  commonly  used  with 
a  double  meaning,  including  nurture  as  well  as 
nature,  the  advance  of  education  as  well  as  race 
development.  The  first  of  these  meanings  is 
entirely  distinct  from  the  other.  Race  improve- 
ment is  very  slow  and  often  thwarted  by  crimes 
and  blunders.  The  results  of  education  may 
be  immediate  and  impressive.  But  the  results 
of  nurture  are  permanent  only  if  imposed  on  the 
solid  basis  of  nature.  By  training  we  may  in- 
crease the  force  of  the  individual  man.  Edu- 
cation gives  him  access  to  the  accumulated  stores 
of  wisdom  built  up  from  the  experience  of  the 
ages.  The  trained  man  is  placed  in  a  class 
relatively  higher  than  the  one  to  which  he  would 
belong  on  the  score  of  heredity  alone.  Hered- 
ity carries  with  it  possibilities  for  effectiveness. 
Training  makes  these  possibilities  actual. 
Civilization  has  been  defined  as  "  the  sum  total 
of  those  agencies  and  conditions  by  which  a  race 
may  advance  independently  of  heredity."  But 
while  education  and  civilization  may  greatly 
modify  the  activities  of  individuals,  and  through 


HUMAN  GENETICS  15 

them  those  of  the  nation,  these  influences  are 
spent  on  the  individual  and  the  social  system 
of  which  he  is  a  part.  So  far  as  science  knows, 
education  and  training  have  no  part  in  heredity. 
The  elements  in  the  germ-plasm  are  ancient  and 
persistent,  not  affected  by  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
individual  life  which  bears  them  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  The  change  in  hereditary 
traits,  which  is  the  essence  of  race-progress,  as 
distinguished  from  progress  in  civilization,  finds 
its  main  if  not  its  sole  cause  in  selection. 

Blood  Will  Tell 

A  common  expression  of  the  law  of  human 
heredity  is  that  "  Blood  will  tell."  This  means 
that  ancestral  traits  persistently  reappear. 

The  word  "  blood  "  in  this  sense  is  figurative 
only,  an  expression  of  the  facts  of  heredity. 
Some  traits,  as  the  phrase  goes,  "  run  in  the 
blood."  "  Blood,"  says  Mephistopheles,  "  is 
quite  a  peculiar  juice."  And  so  it  is,  but  not  in 
the  degree  formerly  believed.  It  was  long 
imagined  that  blood  was  the  actual  physical  ve- 
hicle of  heredity,  that  the  traits  of  family  and 
race  ran  literally  in  the  blood  itself.  This  is 
not  the  case.  Actual  blood  plays  no  part  in 
heredity,  the  transfusion  of  blood  means  no 
more  than  the  transference  of  food,  and  the 
physical  basis  of  the  phenomena  of  inheritance 
is  found  in  the  structure  of  the  germ-cell  and  its 
contained  germ-plasm. 


i6  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

But  the  old  word  well  serves  our  purpose. 
Blood  which  is  "  thicker  than  water  "  is  the 
symbol  of  race  unity.  In  this  sense  lies  the  ap- 
parent paradox  that  blood  determines  history 
and  history  determines  blood.  For  example, 
wherever  Englishmen  go  they  make,  whether 
well  or  ill,  English  history.  Chinamen  make 
Chinese  history.  We  may  note  in  passing,  how- 
ever, that  the  climate  in  which  a  given  tribe  may 
live  may  affect  the  activities  of  its  members  as 
individuals  or  as  an  aggregate;  education  may 
intensify  their  powers  or  mellow  their  preju- 
dices; oppression  may  make  them  servile,  or 
dominion  make  them  arbitrary;  but  these  traits 
and  their  resultants  due  to  external  influences 
do  not  "  run  in  the  blood,"  they  are  not  "  bred 
in  the  bone."  Older,  deeper  set,  more  per- 
manent than  climate  or  training  or  experience 
are  the  traits  of  heredity  and  in  the  long  run 
it  is  always  "  blood  that  tells." 
>  But  even  hereditary  traits  are  not  Immutable. 
War  and  conquest,  with  other  selective  influ- 
ences, may  modify  even  these.  It  is  the  man 
who  is  left  who  determines  the  future  trend  of 
history.  His  inborn  qualities  the  next  genera- 
tion must  inherit. 

Artificial  Selection 

In  a  herd  of  cattle,  to  banish  or  destroy  the 
most  promising  individuals  is  to  allow  the  in- 
ferior to  become  the  parents  of  the  next  genera- 


HUMAN  GENETICS  17 

tion.  This  is  race  deterioration,  although  as 
heredity  runs  level,  the  individuals  of  the 
new  herd  must  be  on  the  average  the  equiv- 
alent of  their  parents.  A  scrawny  herd  is 
the  natural  offspring  of  scrawny  parents. 
On  the  other  hand,  by  preserving  the  most  de- 
sirable types  and  these  only,  one  gets  a  basis  of 
continued  betterment.  It  is  said  that  when  the 
short-horned  Durhams  first  attracted  general 
attention  in  England,  the  long-horn  breeds 
which  preceded  them,  inferior  for  beef  and  milk, 
vanished  "  as  if  smitten  by  a  pestilence."  If 
conditions  should  be  reversed  and  Durhams  be 
chosen  for  destruction,  then  the  long-horns 
might  again  appear  and  increase  rapidly  in  num- 
bers, unless  of  course  all  traces  of  the  breed  had 
in  the  meantime  been  annihilated.  Among  ani- 
mals as  well  as  among  men,  the  type  is  deter- 
mined by  the  individuals  which  survive.  This 
fact  is  the  basis  of  the  process  known  as  Arti- 
ficial Selection.  By  this  process  men  have 
formed  the  various  breeds  of  domestic  animals 
and  plants.  The  value  and  stability  of  these 
breeds  depend  on  the  preservation  of  the  best 
for  parentage. 

Return  of  the  Fairies 

An  interesting  phenomenon  in  London  has 
been  discussed  as  "  The  Return  of  the  Fairies." 

It  is  a  current  theory  that  the  fairy  tales  of 
Europe  are  based  on  persistent  memories  of  pre- 


i8  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

historic  swarthy  dwarf  races  which  once  lived 
on  the  continent.  It  is  now  claimed  that  these 
types,  not  yet  extinct,  are  tending  in  the  preva- 
lence of  military  selection  to  reassert  themselves 
and  to  "  congregate  in  their  old  haunts."  The 
"  pygmies  of  London,"  under-sized,  dark- 
skinned  people,  "  clothed  in  rags  and  begging 
an  existence  "  are  now  Increasing  in  relative 
numbers.  "  The  prehistoric  small,  dark  types 
which  were  submerged  by  the  Celtic  and  Teu- 
tonic Invasions  have  been  asserting  themselves 
numerically,  and  have  also  been  percolating 
back  to  the  areas  from  which  they  were  driven 
by  those  bigger,  fiercer,  blonde  immigrants." 

The  Increase  of  these  dwarfs  may  be  ascribed 
to  their  immunity  from  military  selection.  The 
editor  of  American  Medicine^  however,  thinks 
rather  that  they  represent  small  sizes  of  all  the 
types  found  In  the  melting  pot  of  London  and 
that  their  existence  Is  due  to  "  disease  and  un- 
derfeeding." "  Boys  cannot  grow  into  good 
citizens  without  plenty  of  food,  and  If  we  can- 
not increase  the  food,  we  must  decrease  the  im- 
migration and  the  birth-rate.  No  matter  what 
we  do,  our  American  population  in  the  end  will 
settle  Into  social  layers  as  In  England,  where 
stature  increases  with  social  rank  from  good 
feeding  as  well  as  good  inheritance." 

But  If  the  facts  are  as  stated,  we  must  be 
dealing  with  a  matter  of  heredity,  not  merely 


HUMAN  GENETICS  19 

with  the  effects  of  scant  food  and  unfavorable 
surroundings.  Life  in  the  slums  causes  deteri- 
oration in  all  types  of  men.  But  it  is  the  weak, 
and  unstable  who  create  the  slums.  Slum-life 
with  its  associations  of  liquor  and  vice  consti- 
tutes at  once  a  cause,  an  effect  and  a  symptom 
of  personal  weakness. 

The  slums  of  the  great  cities  of  Europe  have 
formed  the  hopper  into  which,  along  the  lines 
of  least  resistance,  slide  those  rejected  from  en- 
listment. Were  there  no  war,  there  need  be  no 
slums,  for  the  slum  as  a  social  institution  is  a 
product  of  the  War  System.  The  "  Return  of 
the  Fairies  "  will  be  one  result  of  every  great 
conflict,  but  the  phenomenon  will  not  often  pass 
under  so  poetic  a  name. 

Value  of  Individual  Initiative 

More  vital  than  the  elimination  of  the  weak 
strains  in  humanity  Is  the  encouragement  and 
preservation  of  the  strong  ones.  It  is  this  that 
counts   most   in   human   welfare. 

In  all  history,  the  influence  of  Individual  in- 
itiative has  been  a  potent  factor.  In  the  long 
run  it  has  been  the  most  important  element  in 
the  building  of  civilization.  Great  men  have 
been  "  molders  of  environment "  while  the 
common  man  lies  "  at  the  foot  of  the  strong 
god.  Circumstance."  With  men  In  the  mass, 
history  repeats  Itself.     The  rare  man  of  cour- 


20  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

age,  wisdom  and  Initiative  interposes  to  prevent 
such  repetition  and  a  new  epoch  in  human  affairs 
is  begun,  a  new  type  of  history  written. 

In  a  scholarly  work,  on  the  Influence  of  Mon- 
archs,  Dr.  Frederick  Adams  Woods  calls  es- 
pecial attention  to  the  absurdity  of  speaking 
of  the  Romans,  the  Greeks,  the  French,  as 
though  these  nations  constituted  a  continuous 
series  from  century  to  century.  In  reality  the 
history  of  these  and  other  races  is  largely 
measured  by  the  number  and  quality  of  the  men 
of  high  ability  produced  among  their  number. 
And  such  men  of  ability  are  not  descended  from 
the  mass  but  from  superior  strains,  natural  no- 
bility within  the  rank  and  file  of  the  race. 
Whatever  cuts  off  its  superior  strains  contrib- 
utes to  the  downfall  of  the  group  containing 
them, 

"The  Egyptians,"  says  Dr.  Woods,  "  prob- 
ably never  had  any  highly  developed  building 
instinct,  though  some  of  their  rulers  had. 
*  The  Greeks  '  as  a  whole  may  never  have  been 
artistic  and  intellectual,  though  a  percentage 
certainly  were.  '  The  Romans '  may  never 
have  had  a  special  faculty  for  law  and  govern- 
ment. Such  talents  may  have  been  confined  to 
the  patrician  families.  .  .  .  No  matter  what 
may  be  the  form  of  government  .  .  .  the  laws 
of  heredity  will  work  toward  the  formation  of 
governing  classes  Inherently  superior  to  the  sons 
of   other   men.     Universal   suffrage    and   uni- 


HUMAN  GENETICS  21 

versal  education,  the  most  carefully  equalized 
scheme  of  social  opportunity  cannot  prevent  this 
tendency  of  the  homogeneous  to  pass  into  the 
heterogeneous, —  this  splitting  up  of  mankind 
into  sub-varieties,  castes  and  breeds. 

"  Historical  science  can  scarcely  at  present 
predict  the  future,  but  it  can  interpret  the  past. 
If  the  work  of  the  world  has  been  initiated  and 
directed  by  a  few  very  great  men,  and  if  these 
men  are  the  predetermined  products  not  of  out- 
ward but  of  inward  differences,  the  true  Inter- 
pretation of  history  must  hinge  upon  the 
gametes,^  and  the  laws  of  history  will  be  found 
to  be  but  a  part  of  the  laws  which  govern  all 
organic  life." 

"  In  life  or  death,"  says  Ellen  Burns  Sher- 
man, "  the  man  with  presence  of  mind  rarely 
counts  as  merely  one.  Indeed,  Nature's  basis 
of  valuation  of  such  men  may  be  inferred  from 
their  numerical  ratio  to  the  rest  of  the  popula- 
tion. For  Nature,  for  her  various  ends  has  a 
human  currency  of  divers  metals  and  denomina- 
tions. The  ratio  of  Caesars,  Cromwells,  Lin- 
colns,  and  Shakespeares  to  the  rest  of  the  popu- 
lation has  always  been  most  economically  pre- 
determined. 

"  But  the  mad  presumption  of  war  destroys 
Nature's  ratio,  and  the  result  is  similar  to  what 
might  be  expected  if  one  should  rob  the  baker 

'  Gamete,  the  bearer  of  hereditary  traits  within  the  germ- 
cell. 


22  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

of  two-thirds  of  his  quota  of  yeast  prepared  for 
a  hundred  loaves  of  bread  and  then  expect  him 
to  make  the  same  amount  of  good  bread  with 
the  insufficient  remainder  of  leaven. 

"  Counting  truly,  we  should  add  to  the  total 
annihilations  of  the  battlefields  all  those  partial 
extinctions  of  humanity,  manhood,  and  charac- 
ter in  the  surviving  —  which  follow  the  sur- 
render of  honesty,  purity,  justice,  generosity, 
faith,  trust,  honor,  pity,  gentleness,  and  love. 
That  all  these  virtues  are  maimed  —  if  not  ut- 
terly destroyed  —  by  war  who  can  deny  it?  " 

Law  of  Quetelet 

By  the  law  of  probabilities  as  developed  by 
Quetelet,  it  is  claimed  that  there  will  appear  in 
each  generation  the  same  number  of  potential 
poets,  artists,  investigators,  patriots,  athletes 
and  superior  men  of  each  type  of  excellence. 
But  this  law  can  hold  only  in  case  of  absolute 
continuity  of  parentage.  A  percentage  prac- 
tically equal  of  men  of  superior  force  or  superior 
mentality  should  survive  to  take  the  responsi- 
bilities of  parenthood.  Otherwise  Quetelet's 
law,  as  Quetelet  himself  noted,  becomes  subject 
to  the  operation  of  reversed  selection  or  the  bio- 
logical "  law  of  diminishing  returns." 

Again,  all  laws  of  probabilities  and  of  aver- 
ages are  subject  to  the  primal  law  of  biology, 
which  no  cross-current  of  life  can  overrule  or 
modify, — "Like    the    seed    is    the    harvest." 


HUMAN  GENETICS  23 

There  Is  a  Moorish  proverb  which  reads: 
*'  Father  a  weed,  mother  a  weed,  do  you  expect 
the  daughter  to  be  a  saffron  root?  "  One  from 
the  Spanish  puts  the  obverse  of  this:  "  A  lion 
breeds  lions;  a  brave  man  has  brave  sons." 

Working's  of  Primogeniture 

The  feudal  nobility  of  each  nation  in  Europe 
was  primarily  made  up  of  the  brave,  the  strong 
and  the  fair.  By  their  courage  and  strength 
they  became  the  rulers  of  the  people,  and  by  the 
same  token  they  chose  the  fairest  for  their 
mates.  In  the  organization  of  England  par- 
ticularly, the  attempt  was  made  to  emphasize 
and  perpetuate  this  superiority  by  the  law  of 
primogeniture.  On  "  inequality  before  the 
law  "  British  polity  has  always  rested.  A  cer- 
tain few  have  been  fed  on  "  royal  jelly"  as  the 
young  queen-bee  is  fed,  and  thus  raised  to  a 
higher  class,  distinct  from  the  workers.  To 
take  this  leisure  class  out  of  the  struggle  and 
competition  of  life,  so  goes  the  theory,  Is  to 
make  the  first  born  and  his  kind  harmonious 
and  perfect  men  and  women,  fit  to  control  the 
social  and  political  life  of  the  state.  In  Great 
Britain  the  eldest  son  is  chosen  for  this  pur- 
pose,—  a  good  arrangement,  according  to  Sam- 
uel Johnson,  "  because  It  Insures  that  there  shall 
be  only  one  fool  in  the  family."  For  the 
"  theory  of  the  leisure  class  "  overlooks  that 
men  are  made  virile  by  effort  and  resistance, 


24  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

and  the  lord  developed  on  "royal  jelly"  has 
rarely  shown   qualities   of  leadership. 

Primogeniture  has  brought,  however,  a  real 
gain  to  the  nation  though  not  to  the  individual. 
This  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  younger  sons  and 
the  daughters'  sons  were  forced  constantly  back 
into  the  mass  of  the  people,  insuring  among 
them  the  presence  of  dominant  strains.  Eng- 
lishmen of  today  are  descendants  of  the  old  no- 
bility, and  in  the  stress  of  natural  selection  they 
have  crowded  the  children  of  the  swineherd 
and  the  slave.  The  evil  of  primogeniture  has 
furnished  its  own  antidote;  for  primogeniture 
begat  democracy.  The  younger  sons  In  Crom- 
well's ranks  asked  on  their  battle-flags :  "  Why 
should  the  eldest  son  receive  all  and  we  noth- 
ing? "  Richard  Rumbold,  slain  in  the  Bloody 
Assizes,  "  could  never  believe  that  God  had  sent 
into  the  world  a  few  men  already  booted  and 
spurred,  with  countless  millions  already  sad- 
dled and  bridled  for  these  few  to  ride." 
Younger  sons  became  the  Roundheads,  the  Puri- 
tans, the  Pilgrims.  They  swelled  Cromwell's 
army,  they  knelt  at  Marston  Moor,  they 
manned  the  Mayflower,  and  in  each  generation 
they  have  striven  for  liberty  in  England  and 
the  United  States.  Studies  In  genealogy  show 
this  to  be  literally  true.  All  the  "  old  families  " 
in  New  England  and  Virginia  trace  their  lines 
back  to  nobility  and  thence  to  royalty.  Indeed, 
almost  every  Anglo-American  has,  if  he  knew  it, 


HUMAN  GENETICS  25 

noble  and  royal  blood  in  his  veins.  The  Massa- 
chusetts farmer,  whose  fathers  came  from  De- 
von or  Somerset,  has  as  much  of  the  blood  of 
the  Plantagenets,  of  William  and  of  Alfred,  as 
flows  in  any  royal  veins  in  Europe.  But  his  an- 
cestral line  passes  through  the  working  and 
fighting  younger  son. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe  the  law  of  primo- 
geniture was  little  emphasized.  There  the  no- 
bility formed  a  distinct  leisure  class,  all  of  noble 
blood  being  included.  All  were  borne  on  the 
backs  of  the  "  third  estate,"  the  people  at  large. 
Gentle  blood  rarely  mingled  with  that  of  the 
commoner.  Noblemen  were  brought  up  in  in- 
dolence and  dissipation,  their  maintenance  lay- 
ing an  ever-increasing  burden  on  the  villager 
and  the  farmer. 

In  France,  the  intolerable  load  of  taxation 
led  to  the  Revolution  with  its  Reign  of  Terror, 
and  the  sacrifice  of  the  "  best  that  the  nation 
could  bring."  For  despite  their  intrigues  and 
cruelties,  the  victims  numbered  many  of  the  best 
from  the  standpoint  of  race  value.  Their  weak- 
nesses were  those  of  luxury  and  irresponsibility, 
individual  defects  not  inherited  by  their  children 
who,  under  other  conditions,  might  have  reached 
at  least  a  decent  human  average. 

Effects  of  Race  Poison 

Dr.  Saleeby  and  others  have  shown  that  cer- 
tain organic  infections  may  serve  as  Race  Poi- 


26  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

sons,  by  direct  injury  to  the  germ-cells  or  to  the 
growing  embryo.  Chief  among  these  Is  the 
minute  animal  organism,  Splrochaete,  a  species 
of  which  is  the  cause  of  Syphilis. 

Another  type  of  race-poison  has  an  Influence 
purely  chemical.  The  two  best  known  agencies 
of  this  kind  are  alcohol  and  the  salts  of  lead. 
According  to  the  experiments  of  Dr.  Stockard 
in  New  York,  Dr.  Mjoen  in  Norway,  and 
others,  one  effect  of  alcohol  even  in  moderate 
quantities  is  to  kill  or  to  maim  the  germ-cells 
in  either  man  or  woman.  If  the  vitality  of  such 
cells  be  destroyed,  they  are  of  course  sterile. 
Minor  injuries  may  lead  to  imperfect  develop- 
ment In  the  embryo  which  may  show  itself  in 
distortion,  in  epilepsy  or  in  some  form  of  feeble- 
mindedness. Plumbism,  or  saturation  with 
salts  of  lead,  may  have  similar  effects. 

The  study  of  race  poisons,  if  this  term  be 
properly  applied.  Is  still  in  its  Infancy.  In  gen- 
eral, also,  although  the  deteriorating  effects  of 
alcohol  on  the  human  system  are  well  under- 
stood, we  still  have  much  to  learn  of  the  racial 
results  arising  from  its  use,  the  extent  to  which 
it  becomes  a  "  race  "  poison  as  well  as  a  poison 
to  the  Individual.  The  subject  is  in  a  special 
sense  related  to  the  purpose  of  the  present  book 
through  the  fact  that  the  barrack  as  part  of  the 
War  System,  has  been  in  the  past  a  special  cen- 
ter for  the  spread  of  alcoholism  and  venereal 
disease. 


HUMAN  GENETICS  27 

Racial  Loss  Through  Emigration 

Emigration  has  played  a  large  part  In  the 
depletion  of  peoples  in  different  districts  of 
Europe  and  even  in  older  sections  of  the  United 
States.  This  may  mark  a  loss  to  a  particular 
region,  but  none  to  the  world,  the  value  of  a 
man  and  his  posterity,  broadly  speaking,  being 
as  great  in  one  place  as  in  another.  Moreover 
the  pioneer  gains  by  travel,  picking  up  some- 
thing on  the  road,  though  he  may  also  lose 
through  separation,  as  in  the  new  freedom  he 
tends  to  fall  out  of  touch  with  the  achievements 
of  the  old  social  fabric.  Much  of  human  effec- 
tiveness consists  in  entering  into  the  work  of 
others.  But  on  the  other  hand,  he  will  escape 
many  hampering  traditions,  and  the  sturdiness 
of  racial  stock  is  in  no  way  dependent  upon  cul- 
ture, the  social  values  of  native  strength  reas- 
serting themselves  when  opportunity  offers. 
Meanwhile  the  gains  in  the  new  world  may  be 
traced  as  losses  in  the  old.  For  example,  from 
the  counties  of  Devon  and  Somerset  arose,  pri- 
marily, the  colony  of  Masachusetts  Bay.  From 
the  loins  of  Old  England,  New  England  arose, 
and  from  self-governing  New  England,  the  de- 
mocracy of  the  United  States.  From  Devon 
especially  came  forth  the  Puritan  Conscience,  a 
most  precious  political  heritage  of  the  Republic. 
Under  its  influence  every  public  act  finds  its  final 
test  in  moral  standards.  Such  standards  still 
rank  more  highly  in  America  than  in  any  other 


28  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

land.  The  American  people  may  consent  to 
unrighteous  deeds  under  the  impulse  of  false- 
hood or  greed,  but  only  for  a  time.  They 
make  many  mistakes  in  the  rush  of  events. 
They  may  apply  standards  wrongly,  but  if  so, 
the  case  comes  up  again  for  settlement.  Ghosts 
will  walk  till  justice  lays  them. 

In  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth  no  county  in 
England  had  more  abounding  life  than  Devon- 
shire. "  The  Dragon  Persecution  "  there  and 
the  "  Bloody  Assizes  "  in  Somerset,  sent  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  forth  as  emigrants.  Devon 
now  lives  across  the  sea,  whither  three  hundred 
years  ago  her  young  men  carried  the  venerated 
names  of  her  picturesque  sea-ports. 

Racial  Loss  Through  Immigration 

By  Immigration,  lands  scantily  occupied  by 
barbarous  races  have  been  replaced  by  peoples 
more  efficient  or  more  aggressive.  Through 
the  same  agency  strong  nations  have  sucked  in 
weaker  groups  to  fill  the  vacuum  caused  by  war 
or  to  meet  the  demands  of  industry.  The  his- 
tory of  America,  North  and  South,  has  fur- 
nished examples  of  all  of  these.  Through  con- 
quest by  war  as  well  as  out  of  industrial  needs 
grew  up  the  institution  of  slavery.  In  Rome, 
"  whole  tribes  were  borrowed  "  for  the  work  of 
agriculture,  while  conquered  groups  were  util- 
ized as  menials  or  slaves. 

Everywhere,    under    these    conditions,    the 


HUMAN  GENETICS  29 

blood  of  the  slave  or  the  conquered  has  diluted 
that  of  the  dominating  race,  usually  to  its  detri- 
ment. For  example,  in  most  Spanish  and  Por- 
tuguese Colonies,  Latin  blood  has  been  mixed 
with  aboriginal,  producing  crosses  showing  few 
of  the  virtues  of  the  European  stock.  Indeed, 
in  Portugal,  the  mixture  from  subject  races  in 
Brazil,  Africa  and  India  has  invaded  the  parent 
itself  to  its  social  and  political  confusion. 

Two  main  facts  appear  in  this  connection. 
In  many  racial  crossings  occurs  the  mingling  of 
the  least  desirable  types  of  each.  Naturally 
where  the  dregs  of  one  race  mix  with  the  off- 
scourings of  another  arise  distressing  possibil- 
ities of  vice  and  incompetence.  For  instance, 
the  Eurasian  in  Asiatic  sea-ports  "  is  damned 
from  his  birth  and  on  both  sides."  But  when 
good  European  blood  mingles  with  Asiatic 
strains  as  good,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the 
progeny  is  inferior  to  either  parent  stock. 

The  words  "  hybrid  "  or  "  mongrel,"  terms 
of  reproach  as  usually  applied  to  the  human  race, 
relate  commonly  to  the  union  of  widely  different 
peoples.  But  the  question  of  "  Race  or  Mon- 
grel "  cannot  be  settled  by  a  priori  assertions  as 
to  superiority  of  pure  over  mixed  races.  There 
is  no  general  law  that  mongrels  are  sterile,  in- 
ert and  non-resistant.  It  is  a  matter  to  be  de- 
termined in  any  individual  case  of  crossing  by  a 
study  of  the  results  derived.  Experiments  of 
the  sort  have  no  pertinence  unless  best  is  mated 


30  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

with  best,  and  even  then  they  might  prove  con- 
clusive only  if  many  times  repeated.  And  no 
result  shown  in  individuals  need  be  valid  as  a 
general  law  of  crossing.  It  would  apply  only 
to  the  particular  types  in  question.  No  im- 
portant information  could  be  expected  from  the 
study  of  the  first  generation.  One  would  need 
to  know  the  nature  of  the  recessive  characters 
involved  as  well  as  of  the  dominant  ones.  The 
final  Mendellan  disposition  of  mixed  race  char- 
acters must  determine  the  final  answer. 

The  intermarriage  of  European  races  can 
hardly  be  called  crossing  at  all,  as  the  racial  dif- 
ferences concerned  are  of  slight  order,  little 
more  than  temperamental  at  the  best,  and  most 
of  the  traits  we  commonly  recognize  are  mat- 
ters of  education.  All  those  qualities  which 
disappear  In  a  generation  in  America  must  be 
chargeable  to  education,  not  to  race.  And,  in 
general,  other  things  being  equal,  the  advantage 
seems  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  blended  races 
which  belong  to  the  same  general  stock.  More- 
over, in  civilized  lands,  there  are  only  blended 
races.  Blending  is  part  of  civilization.  Pure 
strains  confined  to  isolated  islands  or  valleys, 
thus  withdrawn  from  competition,  by  no  means 
represent  the  best  of  any  race.  There  is  no 
widespread  race  which  is  pure.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  a  pure-blooded  German  or  French- 
man. "  Saxon  and  Norman  and  Dane  are  we  " 
of    England.     Likewise    are    we    Briton    and 


HUMAN  GENETICS  31 

Welsh  and  Cornish;  also  Scotchmen,  Highland 
and  Lowland,  Manxmen,  Ulstermen  and  Irish- 
men. 

That  the  crossing  of  the  closely  allied  Euro- 
pean races  in  America  has,  of  itself,  brought  no 
disaster  to  our  republic  is  a  matter  of  visible 
observation.  That  wide  crosses  necessarily 
work  always  for  evil  is  not  proved.  Appar- 
ently the  American  mulatto  as  a  whole  is  supe- 
rior to  the  pure  African  negro.  And  the  ulti- 
mate fate  of  the  negro  race  in  America  is  ap- 
parently to  become  mulatto,  even  though  the  in- 
troduction of  white  blood  is  relatively  much  less 
frequent  now  than  in  the  days  of  slavery.  But 
in  all  these  matters,  we  are  much  in  need  of 
scientific,  that  is,  exact  and  systematized,  infor- 
mation. 

We  may  admit  that  the  introduction  of  Afri- 
can blood  has  not  been  a  gain  to  the  republic. 
And  we  may  also  admit  that  much  of  later  immi- 
gration from  Europe  and  Asia  has  lowered  our 
average.  The  original  impulse  to  America  was 
that  of  escape  from  paternalism  and  oppres- 
sion, two  words  for  the  same  thing.  America 
was  a  haven  of  refuge  from  senseless  tyranny. 
Immigration  thus  brought  to  the  new  world  a 
wealth  of  initiative  and  adaptability  such  as  no 
nation  ever  inherited  before.  But  in  later  days 
this  current  has  changed.  Wider  opportunity 
has  opened  before  the  common  man  in  the  more 
progressive  nations,  and  the  Incentive  of  free- 


32  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

dom  has  been  less  acute.  Moreover,  while  still 
"  America  means  Opportunity,"  this  is  not  al- 
ways to  be  had  for  the  asking. 

The  demands  of  manufacturers,  the  oper- 
ations of  steamship  companies,  and  the  possi- 
bilities of  earning  money  without  economic  free- 
dom, are  drawing  another  type  of  immigrant 
from  other  parts  of  the  world.  Among  immi- 
grants to  America  today  are  some  with  magnifi- 
cent personal  responsibilities,  men  of  the  stuff 
that  makes  republics.  But  the  most  of  them 
are  not  such,  and  while  their  presence  adds  to 
our  material  wealth  they  constitute,  as  a  whole, 
a  burden  on  our  democracy.  Only  a  man  who 
can  take  care  of  himself  and  have  something  left 
over  for  the  common  welfare  is  a  good  citizen. 
It  is  hard  to  maintain  the  principle  of  equality 
before  the  law  among  people  who  have  never 
felt  and  never  demanded  such  equality. 

Racial  Inequality 

The  claim  is  sometimes  made  on  an  assumed 
basis  of  science  that  all  races  of  men  are  bio- 
logically equal,  and  that  the  differences  of 
capacity  which  appear  are  due  to  opportunity 
and  to  education.  But  opportunity  has  come  to 
no  race  as  a  gift.  By  effort  it  has  created  its 
own  environment.  Powerful  strains  make 
their  own  opportunity.  The  progress  of  each 
race  has  depended  on  its  own  inherent  qualities. 
There  has  been  no  other  leverage.     Physical 


HUMAN  GENETICS  33 

surroundings  have  played  only  a  minor  part. 
To  say  that  one  race  as  a  whole  is  inferior  to 
another  is  only  to  repeat  what  is  said  every  day 
of  individual  men.  This  docs  not  imply  that 
the  lower  man  or  the  lower  race  need  be  robbed, 
enslaved  or  exterminated.  Nor  that  a  lower 
race  may  not  produce  its  own  prophets  or 
scholars  or  heroes.  The  tribe  of  Australian 
bushmen  is  counted  one  of  the  lowest  on  earth. 
Not  long  ago,  in  Adelaide,  I  met  a  full-blooded 
"  Black-fellow,"  broad-minded  and  competent, 
a  mechanical  engineer  by  profession,  a  man  who 
would  hold  his  own  in  any  community.  That 
race  is  lowest  which  shows,  on  the  whole,  least 
capacity  for  self-elevation. 

"  All  men  are  born  free  and  equal,"  it  is  as- 
serted, but  such  equality  is  political  only.  It 
cannot  be  biological.  In  every  race  are  certain 
strains  having  capacities  not  attainable  by  the 
mass.  There  should  be  equality  of  start, 
equality  before  the  law,  but  there  will  always  be 
differences  of  attainment.  The  gifts  of  poten- 
tiality, unit  characters  of  the  germ-plasm,  are 
not  equally  shared  by  all  people  of  the  same 
race.  The  average  status  of  one  may  be  below 
that  of  another,  and  the  highest  possibilities  of 
one  type  may  be  greater  than  those  of  another. 
In  general,  the  highest  range  of  possibilities 
in  every  field  has  been  reached  by  the  *'  blonde 
races  "  of  Europe.  Groups  of  less  individual 
or  of  less  aggregate  achievement  may  properly 
be  regarded  as  "  lower." 


IV.     THE  WAR  SYSTEM  AND 
MILITARISM 

The  War  System 

"  War,"  says  Clausewitz,  the  greatest  of  mil- 
itary philosophers,  "  is  an  act  of  violence,  which 
in  its  application  knows  no  bounds."  The  Sys- 
tem comprises  all  organizations,  disciplines  and 
devices  useful  for  carrying  on  warfare.  In  our 
day,  in  every  country  its  avowed  purpose  is  de- 
fensive, but  defense  implies  also  aggression 
and  it  is  a  recognized  maxim  of  war  that  the  best 
defense  is  to  be  the  first  to  strike. 

The  War  System  comprises  the  most  potent 
of  all  agencies  for  the  reversal  of  selection 
among  men.  In  its  three-fold  function  —  Mili- 
tary Conscription,^  "Armed  Peace"  ("Dry 
War")  and  War  itself,  it  promotes  the  waste 
of  the  fittest,  and  allows  the  increase  of  inertness 
and  inefficiency  in  relative  numerical  Impor- 
tance. The  whole  civilized  world  is  still  or- 
ganized more  or  less  completely  on  the  basis  of 
the  War  System.  Democracy  demands  escape 
from  it,  but  nowhere  has  perfect  democracy  yet 
existed,  because  nowhere  yet  has  any  nation  fully 
emerged  from  the  shadow  of  menace. 

1  The  effects  of  Military  Conscription  are  treated  in  the 
following  chapter. 

34 


THE  WAR  SYSTEM  35 

The  War  System  has  its  foundation  In  the 
medlzEval  conception  of  nations  as  rivals  or  ene- 
mies, each  using  Its  abihties  to  impede  the  pros- 
perity or  commerce  of  other  nations,  each  a  unit 
of  power  desirous  of  expansion  In  territory, 
eager  to  enforce  its  will  on  others  and  prepared 
to  do  limitless  injury,  if  necessary,  to  that  end. 
Each  Is  therefore  suspicious  of  all  others,  and 
in  proportion  to  its  subservience  to  the  War 
System,  cultivates  hatred  along  Its  borders.  As 
suspicion,  hatred  and  the  use  of  force  demand 
secrecy  to  be  effective,  the  War  System  is  main- 
tained by  secret  diplomacy  and  arbitrary  action. 
To  consult  with  the  people  concerned  would  de- 
stroy the  opportunity  for  sudden  decision  and 
lightning  attack,  so  vital  to  successful  warfare. 
The  System  in  Europe  Is  essentially  aristocratic. 
Its  higher  councils  open  only  to  the  chosen  few. 
It  is,  in  fact,  the  right  arm  of  privilege,  while 
the  left  arm  Is  found  in  the  State  Church.  Ac- 
cessories of  the  War  System  are  restrictive 
tariffs  and  repressive  legislation,  with  every 
other  line  of  policy  which  tends  to  aggravate  dif- 
ferences among  men  and  nations.  Its  exigen- 
cies, throughout  Europe,  have  perverted  and 
poisoned  most  teaching  of  history,  politics, 
morals  and  patriotism.  The  same  evil  influ- 
ences have  been  felt  in  the  schools  of  America. 

Bismarck,  the  ablest  exponent  of  the  War 
System  since  Napoleon,  recognized  that  military 
officials  as  a  whole  and  in  every  country  not  only 


36  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

think  of  current  events  in  terms  of  war,  but  that, 
with  many  sincere  exceptions,  their  voice  is  for 
war.  This  condition  he  approved,  at  the  same 
time  providing  that  mihtary  authority  should 
never  override  civil.  "  Strategy  must  wait 
on  diplomacy."  But  military  efficiency  every- 
where exerts  a  constant  and  at  times  overween- 
ing pressure  to  the  end  that  rivalries  of  whatso- 
ever kind  be  adjusted  by  the  sword. ^ 

In  passing  we  may  note  that  modern  diplo- 
macy concerns  itself  mainly  with  the  affairs  of 
the  rich,  and  especially  with  those  of  the  ad- 
venturer in  backward  or  barbarous  lands,  where 
robbery  may  supplement  enterprise.  To  be  ef- 
fective,   such    diplomacy    must    be    supported 

2  An  illustration  of  the  above  is  given  in  the  Memoirs  of 
Prince  Hohenlohe,  as  thus  quoted  and  condensed  by  Henry 
Noel  Brailsford  in  The  War  of  Steel  and  Gold.  "  There 
was  (in  1889)  some  serious  question  of  provoking  a  war 
with  France,  and  the  main  reason  for  hurrying  it  forward 
was  apparently  the  eagerness  of  the  German  generalissimo, 
Count  Waldersee,  a  most  influential  person  at  court,  to 
reap  the  glory  which  is  only  to  be  had  by  leading  armies 
in  the  field.  There  was  unluckily  no  obvious  pretext  for 
war,  but  on  the  other  hand  Count  Waldersee,  who  was 
growing  old  was  obsessed  by  the  painful  reflection,  that  if 
the  inevitable  war  was  postponed  much  longer  he  would 
be  compelled,  as  a  superannuated  veteran,  to  witness  the 
triumphs  of  a  younger  rival.  In  the  end  it  was  found  im- 
possible to  provide  Count  Waldersee  with  a  European 
war,  but  to  the  astonishment  of  mankind  the  Kaiser  did, 
before  he  reached  the  age-limit,  arrange  a  punitive  ex- 
pedition in  China  for  his  benefit.  If  he  reaped  no  glory 
by  it,  the  Chinese  will  not  soon  forget  his  prowess  against 
non-combatants  and  movable  property." 


THE  WAR  SYSTEM  37 

by  armed  force,  which  points  directly  towards 
war. 

The  War  System  consists  of  three  main  ele- 
ments of  organization, —  the  Standing  Army, 
Conscription,  and  finally  War  itself,  towards 
which  the  other  two  converge.  In  each  of  the 
three  branches,  it  stands  opposed,  on  the  whole, 
to  the  eugenic  welfare  of  the  nation,  as  Benja- 
min Franklin  was  the  first  to  observe.  To  be- 
gin with,  all  armies  are  chosen  by  selection. 
They  are  made  up  of  young  men  between  the 
ages  of  seventeen  and  thirty-five,  without  blem- 
ish so  far  as  may  be,  men  of  physical  strength 
and  soldierly  bearing,  having  by  preference  the 
qualities  of  courage,  dash  and  initiative.  The 
feeble,  the  loose-jointed,  the  weak-minded,  the 
adenoid,  the  intemperate,  the  diseased  are  left 
at  home.  Furthermore,  In  camp-life,  the  sol- 
dier is  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  unwholesome 
influences  of  liquor,  lust  and  absence  of  social 
restraint.  In  actual  war,  the  hazards  far  ex- 
ceed those  of  civil  life,  and  in  camp  and  field 
the  soldier  is  alike  debarred  from  normal  home 
surroundings  and  from  honorable  parenthood. 
The  War  System  then,  in  all  its  ramifications, 
tends  to  the  continuance  of  the  race  from  stock 
in  most  or  In  all  respects  inferior  to  the  average. 
In  any  event,  It  leaves  the  nation  crippled,  "  une 
nation  blessee/'  In  the  word  of  Professor 
Bonet-Maury. 

This  crippling,  from  which  all  nations  have 


38  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

suffered  more  or  less,  may  not  appear  In  the  ef- 
facement  of  art,  of  science  or  of  creative  imag- 
ination. Men  who  excel  In  these  regards  are 
not  drawn  by  preference  to  the  life  of  the  sol- 
dier, though  In  war  time  they,  with  the  others, 
may  be  victims  of  conscription.  But  while  to 
cut  the  roots  of  a  tree  may  not  Impair  the  quality 
of  its  fruitage,  It  will  most  certainly  reduce  its 
vitality  and  the  amount  of  Its  produce. 

Militarism 

The  animating  spirit  of  the  War  System  is 
known  as  Militarism.  This  we  may  define  as 
dependence  on  force  instead  of  law  In  national 
and  International  relations.  Through  its  influ- 
ence Law  itself  becomes  the  expression  of  supe- 
rior power,  not  of  the  will  and  intelligence  of 
the  people  concerned.  Militarism  is  a  mental 
attitude  of  a  nation  quite  as  much  as  an  objec- 
tive fact.  For  this  reason,  it  cannot  be  meas- 
ured by  the  number  of  soldiers  or  ships  or  by 
the  size  of  guns.  It  is  placing  dependence  on 
these  agencies  for  the  enforcement  of  a  dominat- 
ing will.  Militarism  considers  all  public  ques- 
tions in  terms  of  force,  its  alternate,  Civllism, 
In  terms  of  equity.  The  degree  of  a  nation's 
reliance  for  defense  or  aggression  on  the  War 
System  serves  as  a  measure  of  Militarism.  If 
It  be  regarded  as  menacing  in  tendency,  the  rem- 
edy lies  in  education,  in  the  spread  of  ideas  of 
international  equity,  and  in  the  recognition  of 


THE  WAR  SYSTEM  39 

the  fact  that  War  Is  not  a  normal  condition  In 
human  affairs,  but  a  most  disastrous  form  of 
world-sickness,  to  be  met  like  any  other  pesti- 
lence by  sanitation. 

The  primal  causes  of  modern  war  are  found 
In  Militarism,  Exploitation  and  Fatalism.  The 
last  named  element  is  that  mental  bias  which 
moves  people  otherwise  Intelligent  and  peaceful 
to  think  of  ev^ery  little  hitch  between  civilized 
nations  In  terms  of  war.  The  newspapers 
which  are  the  echoes  of  the  ideas  of  the  people 
at  large  blare  out  these  thoughts.  Men  In- 
terested in  war  preparation  take  them  up,  and 
in  time  "  the  man  on  the  street  "  reaches  the 
second  stage  of  martial  degeneration.  "  Our 
honor  is  attacked;  our  vital  Interests  are  in  peril. 
This  has  been  two  or  three  times  repeated! 
War  is  inevitable.  We  shall  never  be  more 
ready  for  it  than  we  are  now."  At  once  the 
call  is  raised  to  Increase  all  our  means  of  de- 
fense. The  result  is  that  the  more  we  have 
invested  In  these  things,  the  more  we  think  in 
terms  of  war,  the  more  easy  It  is  to  get  our 
honor  impugned,  the  more  "  Inevitable  "  Is  the 
too  long  delayed  conflict. 

Along  this  line,  the  "  Dry  War  "  of  Europe 
progressed  for  years.  For  years  every  entan- 
glement of  spheres  of  influence  had  been  con- 
sidered in  terms  of  war.  Tenuous  "  national 
honor"  was  variously  Insulted;  the  "vital  in- 
terests "    of   bands    of    adventurers   were    Im- 


40  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

perilled.  Thus  war  became  Inevitable  in  the 
popular  mind. 

Culture  ^  is  a  product  of  friendly  relations. 
One  of  its  chief  attributes  is  the  capacity  to  put 
oneself  in  another's  place.  In  this  sense,  it  is 
the  antithesis  of  militarism.  The  culture  of  a 
nation  has  sources  far  beyond  its  boundary  lines. 
The  culture  of  all  Western  and  Central  Europe 
is  essentially  one,  each  nation  large  and  small 
contributing  Its  part  and  the  whole  having  deep 
roots  in  the  philosophy  of  Greece  and  that  of 
Judea.  The  whole  body  of  the  "  blonde  race  " 
constitutes  a  brotherhood  from  which  no  ele- 
ment could  be  spared.  A  European  war  Is  nec- 
essarily of  the  nature  of  civil  war,  fratricidal 
as  well  as  suicidal.  "  Laws,"  said  Plato,  "  are 
their  own  avengers  on  those  who  slight  them." 

In  the  words  of  Sir  Robert  Morier:  "A 
nation  cannot  afford  the  luxury  of  cynicism,  can- 
not risk  to  place  itself  outside  the  pale  of  the 
opinions  of  mankind,  because  a  nation  never  dies 
and  the  conscience  of  mankind  never  dies,  and 
when  the  orgies  of  successful  force  have  spent 
their  strength,  the  day  comes  when  it  has  to  live, 
not  with  Its  own  recollections,  but  with  that 
which  mankind  has  preserved  for  it."  {Mem- 
oirs and  Letters,  quoted  by  Havelock  Ellis.) 

Militarism  to  those  reared  under  its  disci- 

3 The  word  "culture"  is  here  used  in  its  ordinary  English 
significance.  The  German  "  Kultur "  refers  rather  to  a 
particular  group  of  social   adjustments. 


THE  WAR  SYSTEM  41 

pline  is  like  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere, 
everywhere  present  but  not  recognized.  The 
one  people  of  modern  times  most  thoroughly 
subject  to  it  vehemently  denies  its  existence.  A 
poet  of  the  day  affirms  of  this  nation:  "We 
hate  as  one;  we  love  as  one."  The  idea  is  im- 
possible to  an  individualistic  people  not  subject 
to  such  discipline.  In  Great  Britain,  as  in 
America,  the  people  can  never  be  conceived  to 
"  hate  as  one."  Each  loves  as  he  pleases,  hates 
as  he  pleases  and  fights  if  he  thinks  the  cause 
worth  while,  or  if  drawn  by  a  gregarious  or 
combative  nature.  But  a  people  must  be  thor- 
oughly militarized  before  it  will  "  love  as  one  " 
or  "  hate  as  one  "  at  the  dictate  of  any  ruler  or 
government. 

Militarism  and  Industrialism 

One  of  the  staple  arguments  for  the  War 
System  is  its  industrial  value.  By  it  the  work- 
ing man  is  taught  obedience  to  authority.  His 
docility  is  a  valuable  industrial  asset.  He  will 
not  block  industry  by  strikes,  sabotage  or 
syndicalism  once  he  has  learned  to  obey.  And 
in  a  community  thoroughly  disciplined,  failure  to 
obey  can  be  made  unpleasant  or  perilous. 
Meanwhile  a  kindly  paternal  government 
through  employment  insurance,  old  age  pensions 
and  the  like  can  protect  the  workman  from  want 
with  one  hand  while  with  the  other  it  holds  him 
in  his  place.     Freedom  gives  the  opportunity  to 


42  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

rise  but  also  the  liability  to  fall.  A  land  of  in- 
dividual liberty  is  a  land  of  industrial  contrasts. 
Where  varied  humanity  gives  place  to  standard- 
ized industrial  units,  personal  initiative  must  suf- 
fer. The  difference  between  the  two  ideals  in- 
dicated is  sharply  emphasized  in  Europe  today. 
This  divergence  is  marked  by  the  theory  and 
practice  of  military  conscription.  The  absence 
of  enforced  service  constitutes  the  main  bond  of 
union  throughout  "  Greater  Britain."  And  the 
actual  tie  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  is  not  primarily  that  of  blood  nor  even 
of  language.  It  lies  in  the  fact  that  both 
nations  are  essentially  democratic  and  indi- 
vidualistic, recognizing  the  man  as  the  unit  in 
society,  not  as  a  mere  industrial  factor  in  "  the 
State  "  which  "  exists  over  and  apart  from  the 
individuals  who  compose  it." 

Militarism  and  Private  Right 

The  War  System  involves  constant  encroach- 
ment on  the  rights  of  the  individual.  Actual 
war  introduces  Martial  Law,  which  is  not  law 
at  all,  simply  the  suspension  of  ordinary  equity. 
Under  Martial  Law  every  government  whatso- 
ever arrogates  to  itself  imperial  power.  The 
property,  the  food,  even  the  bodies  of  its  citi- 
zens may  be  seized  for  the  good  of  the  nation 
and  that  without  redress.  Even  crime  may  be- 
come "  military  necessity."  The  precedents 
formed  by  the  invasions  of  personal  rights  per- 


THE  WAR  SYSTEM  43 

sist  long  after  war  has  ceased.  The  more  def- 
initely victorious  a  nation,  the  more  prone  it 
is  to  rivet  chains  on  its  own  people.  The  ex- 
pansion of  national  power  means,  for  the  most 
part,  the  narrowing  of  individual  liberty.  The 
Prussian  Imperialist,  Professor  Von  Treitschke, 
asserts  (in  words  here  slightly  condensed)  : 

"  The  essence  of  the  state  is  power,  and  it  Is 
to  be  found  in  a  well-equipped  and  well-drilled 
army.  ...  It  is  only  in  war  that  a  people  be- 
comes a  people.  .  .  .  The  state  exists  over  and 
apart  from  the  individuals  who  compose  it  and 
it  is  entitled  to  their  utmost  sacrifices,  in  short, 
they  exist  for  it,  rather  than  the  state  for  them. 
A  nation's  military  efficiency  is  the  exact  coeffi- 
cient of  a  nation's  idealism." 

Says  the  London  Morning  Post,  harking  back 
to  the  days  of  Lord  Beaconsfield :  ^ 

"  The  first  function  of  the  State  is  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Army.  .  .  .  The  second  is  war- 
fare. That  men  have  so  long  refused  to  recog- 
nize this  fact  proves  how  emasculated  political 
science  has  become  in  the  hands  of  civilians. 
...  If  it  had  not  been  for  war  there  would 
be  no  states.  It  is  to  war  that  all  the  states  we 
know  of  owe  their  existence.  .  .  .  Wars  must 
continue  to  the  end  of  history  so  long  as  there 
is  a  plurality  of  states.  Neither  logic  nor  hu- 
man nature  reveal  any  probability  that  it  could 
ever  be  otherwise. 

*  War  and  Peace,  March,  1915,  quoted  by  C.  E.  Fayle. 


44  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

"  The  absurd  talk  about  this  being  a  war 
against  mihtarlsm  has  now  subsided.  .  .  . 
After  all,  the  British  Empire  is  built  up  of  good 
fighting  by  its  Army  and  Navy.  The  spirit  of 
fighting  is  native  to  the  British  race.  Only  by 
militarism  can  we  guard  against  the  abuses  of 
militarism.  War  is  in  itself  a  thing  indifferent, 
being  either  bad  or  good  according  to  its  use 
and  service.  .  .  .  Adequate  military  prepara- 
tion is  the  only  means  yet  devised  by  man  to 
avoid  the  horrors  of  war.  ...  In  times  of 
corrupting  peace,  the  State's  energies  and  re- 
sources are  absorbed  In  schemes  of  social 
change,  and  it  accordingly  neglects  those  na- 
tional considerations  which  were  at  one  time 
thought  to  be  the  sole  business  of  a  national 
government  .  .  .  social  reform,  land  reform, 
and  all  the  other  reforms  without  which  it  was 
supposed  the  nation  could  not  live,  are  gone 
clean  out  of  the  picture.  Democracy  may  still 
exist,  but  it  is  no  longer  in  evidence.  .  .  .  Then 
war  comes,  and  the  people  perceive  that  the  in- 
dividual matters  nothing,  the  class  matters  lit- 
tle, what  really  counts  is  the  nation." 

This  is,  in  brief,  the  political  and  social  creed 
of  the  War  System.  It  suppresses  the  individ- 
ual, it  throttles  democracy,  it  drains  the  re- 
sources of  the  people.  It  strengthens  the  con- 
ception of  the  nation  as  an  entity  with  an  exist- 
ence apart  from  the  people  who  create  it.  It 
furnishes  the  privileged  groups  a  means  of  de- 


THE  WAR  SYSTEM  45 

fense  against  the  rising  tide  of  democracy.  For 
when  all  are  beset  by  a  common  danger,  the 
minor  equities  are  forgotten  and  a  definite  halt 
is  called  on  every  kind  of  social  reform. 

Militarism  and  Nationality 

The  spirit  of  nationality  as  understood  in  an 
aggressive  sense,  lies  behind  the  international 
conflict  of  our  day.  It  begets  a  type  of  patriot- 
ism vicious  in  its  influence,  because  directed 
not  toward  the  welfare  of  mankind  or  even  that 
of  the  fatherland  itself,  but  toward  rivalry  with 
other  nations.  By  such  means,  nationality  has 
built  its  boundaries  in  hate. 

Nationality  has  succeeded  to  the  feudal  sys- 
tem. With  all  its  splendid  advantages  for  hu- 
man culture  and  well-being,  it  is  still  on  trial 
because  capable  of  terrible  perversion. 

The  dual  nature  of  nationality  has  been  ad- 
mirably put  by  Professor  G.  Lowes  Dickinson 
of  Cambridge:  "  Nationality  is  a  Janus,  facing 
both  ways.  So  far  as  it  stands  for  the  right 
of  a  people  to  govern  itself,  it  stands  for  free- 
dom. So  far  as  it  stands  for  the  ambition  to 
govern  other  people,  or  to  destroy  them  or  to 
shape  them  into  an  unknown  world,  it  stands 
for  domination.  Throughout  history  it  has 
stood  for  both.  .  .  .  Nationality  is  respectable 
only  when  it  is  on  its  defense.  When  it  is 
waging  wars  of  liberation  it  is  sacred.  When 
it  is  waging  wars  of  domination,  it  is  accursed. 


46  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

It  is  therefore  an  ideal  only  when  it  is  associated 
with  Law  and  Peace." 

Says  Havelock  Ellis :^  "An  Englishman 
no  more  dreams  of  worshiping  the  state  than 
of  worshiping  his  own  trousers.  Both  the  one 
and  the  other  he  regards  as  useful  ...  in  fact, 
he  clings  to  them  both  with  a  remarkable 
tenacity.  But  he  regards  them  as  alike  made 
for  him  and  to  his  own  measure.  The  idea 
that  he  was  made  for  them  and  that  he  must 
abase  himself  in  the  dust  before  their  divine 
superiority  is  an  idea  at  which  he  would  smile." 

^Atlantic  Monthly,  April,  1915. 


V.     THE  WAR  SYSTEM  AND  RACE 
SELECTION 

Franklin's  Views 

Benjamin  Franklin  who,  above  all  his  con- 
temporaries, "  saw  through  the  forms  of  things 
and  laid  bare  the  substance  "  was,  so  far  as 
records  go,  the  first  man  in  all  history  to  no- 
tice the  necessary  relation  of  war  to  the  breed. 
Of  an  interview  he  had  with  Franklin  in  1783, 
John  Baynes  records  the  following :  ^ 

"  Insensibly  we  began  to  converse  on  stand- 
ing armies,  and  he,  seeming  to  express  an  opin- 
ion that  this  system  might  some  time  or  other 
be  abolished,  I  took  the  liberty  to  ask  him  in 
what  manner  he  thought  it  could  be  abolished; 
that  at  present  a  compact  among  the  Powers 
of  Europe  seemed  the  only  way,  for  one  or  two 
Powers  singly  and  without  the  rest  would  never 
do  it;  and  that  even  a  compact  did  not  seem 
likely  to  take  place,  because  a  standing-army 
seemed  necessary  to  support  an  absolute  gov- 
ernment, of  which  there  were  many  in  Europe. 
'That  is  very  true,'  said  he;  'I  admit  that  if 

^Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Samuel  Romilly,  by  his  sons. 
2  vols.  1842.  vol.  I,  p.  69,  quoted  by  James  Parton  and  by 
James  Brown  Scott. 

47 


48  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

one  Power  singly  were  to  reduce  the  standing- 
army,  it  would  be  instantly  overrun  by  other 
nations;  but  yet  I  think  there  is  one  effect  of  a 
standing-army  which  must  in  time  be  felt  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  bring  about  the  total  abo- 
lition of  the  system.'  On  my  asking  what  the 
effect  was  to  which  he  alluded,  he  said  he 
thought  they  diminished  not  only  the  popula- 
tion, but  even  the  breed  and  the  size  of  the 
human  species.  '  For,'  said  he,  '  the  army  in 
this  and  every  other  country  is  in  fact  the  flower 
of  the  nation  —  all  the  most  vigorous,  stout 
and  well-made  men  in  a  kingdom  are  to  be 
found  in  the  army.  These  men  in  general  never 
marry.'  " 

"  History,"  observes  Dr.  James  Brown 
Scott,  "  is  but  a  commentary  on  the  statement 
of  Dr.  Franklin,  for  standing  armies  and  their 
destruction  in  battle  have  sacrificed  the  fit  to 
the  unfit  and  ruined  the  nation  on  the  battle- 
field. We  may  close  our  eyes  to  history  and 
refuse  to  listen  to  its  teachings,  but  the  fact  is 
and  always  has  been  that  war  deprives  a  nation 
of  the  most  fitted  to  maintain  its  existence,  and 
a  succession  of  wars  ruins  the  stamina  of  a 
nation,  no  matter  by  what  sophistry  we  may 
disguise  the  fact  or  explain  the  consequence. 

"  It  is  not  maintained  or  asserted  that  war 
may  not  draw  out  the  higher  instincts  of  a  na- 
tion; that  courage  and  self-sacrifice,  of  which 
we  are  proud  and  whose  traditions  we  cherish, 


RACE  SELECTION  49 

are  not  produced  and  made  prominent  in  war  in 
ways  impossible  in  peace;  but  the  misfortune 
and  the  scourge  of  war  lie  in  the  fact  that  these 
very  qualities  are  sacrificed  and  lost;  for,  to 
repeat  the  language  of  Dr.  Franklin :  '  the  army 
is  the  flower  of  the  nation.  All  the  most  vig- 
orous, stout,  and  well-made  men  in  a  kingdom 
are  to  be  found  in  the  army.  These  men  in 
general  never  marry.'  The  realization  of  this 
state  of  affairs  will  one  day  reach  the  people, 
and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  will  save 
themselves  and  their  countries  by  insisting  upon 
the  settlement  of  international  disputes  in  a 
way  which  does  not  deprave  humanity  and 
jeopardize  civilization." 

Other  Early  Observations 

Almost  contemporary  with  Franklin  was  Dr. 
Tenon  of  Paris,  who  reached  a  similar  conclu- 
sion through  actual  studies  of  the  effect  of  war 
on  the  stature  of  men.  It  appears  that  Dr. 
L.  R.  Villerme  called  attention,  in  1833,  to  cer- 
tain notes  written  by  Dr.  Tenon  in  1785.^ 
"  '  Tenon  was  led  by  his  studies,'  says  Villerme, 
'  to  conclude  that  human  stature  is  more  largely 

2  Villerme,  L.  R.,  "  Extrait  de  Notes  MS  relative  h  la 
Stature  et  au  Poids  de  rhomme,  lesquelles  notes  ont  ete 
trouvees  dans  les  papiers  de  feu  Tenon,  membre  de  I'lnsti- 
tut  de  France,"  in  Annales  d'Hygiene  Publique,  i'"^  Serie, 
vol.  X,  pp.  27-35.  1833.  Quoted  by  V.  L.  Kellogg  in 
Military  Selection  and  Race  Deterioration,  Carnegie  En- 
dowment for  Peace,  Series,  1915. 


50  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

determined  by  heredity  than  environment,' 
And  on  one  of  the  note  sheets,  Villerme  found 
a  statement  of  Tenon's  to  the  effect  that  all 
the  facts  from  all  the  documents  and  statistics 
which  he  had  been  able  to  assemble  touching 
this  matter  of  human  stature,  made  it  necessary 
for  him  to  conclude  that  '  wars,  and  especially 
long  wars,  reduced  the  average  height  (in  a 
population)  by  using  up  the  tallest  men.'  But 
Villerme  was  unable  to  find  in  the  notes  any 
particular  assembling  of  facts  on  which  this 
conclusion  had  been  based." 

"  Dr.  Villerme  himself,  in  1829,"  continues 
Professor  Kellogg,  "  published  a  valuable 
pioneer  study '  of  the  height  of  French  con- 
scripts, with  a  direct,  if  somewhat  timid  and 
suppressed  suggestion  to  the  effect  that  a  cer- 
tain reduction  of  the  average  height  of  French 
young  men  noted  by  him  in  the  years  after  the 
Restoration,  was  due  to  the  deteriorating  effects 
of  the  earlier  Napoleonic  campaigns.  Villerme 
notes  that  after  the  Restoration,  when  the  mini- 
mum height  of  the  conscripts  for  service  had 
been  raised  to  1670  mm. —  it  had  been  reduced 
by  Napoleon  from  1624  mm.  to  1598  mm., 
and  then  to  1544  mm. —  certain  Cantons  were 
not  able  to  complete  the  number  of  young  men 
which  they  should  furnish  as  soldiers  of  sufii- 

2  Villerme,  L.  R.  Memoire  stir  la  Taille  de  I'Homme  en 
France,  in  Annales  d'Hygiene  Publique,  i"""  Serie,  vol.  i, 
PP-  551-339.  1829. 


RACE  SELECTION  51 

cient  height  and  vigor  according  to  the  propor- 
tion of  their  population. 

"In  1833,  Benoiston  de  Chateauneuf  in  an 
admirable,  full  paper  *  documented  by  statistics 
and  touching  such  matters  as  numbers  in  the 
French  army  in  different  years,  the  changing 
height-figures  for  conscripts,  the  proportions 
and  causes  of  deaths  in  garrison  and  camp  in  the 
army  in  times  of  peace,  etc.,  quotes  approvingly 
from  a  writing  by  one  M.  de  Petigny,  a  '  con- 
seiller  de  prefecture  '  entitled  '  Observations  sur 
le  Recrutement.' 

"  '  Conscription  has  destroyed  not  only  the 
generations  exposed  to  it;  it  has  struck  at  its 
very  source,  the  life  of  the  generations  to  come. 
In  constantly  taking  from  the  nation  the  elite 
of  its  youth,  it  has  left  France  only  the  infirm 
and  adolescent.  Consequently  marriages  are 
made  only  with  soldiers  used  up  by  the  fatigues 
of  war,  or  with  youths  hardly  escaped  from  in- 
fancy, who  hasten  to  find  a  protection,  in  these 
immature  marriages,  from  the  rigor  of  the  con- 
scription laws.  Such  ill-made  unions  have  been 
able  to  produce  only  a  degenerate  race,  and  the 
proof  of  this  is  found  in  the  increase,  in  recent 
years,  of  the  number  of  exempts  (conscripts 
excused  from  joining  the  colors  for  undersize 
or  infirmity) .     According  to  the  report  of  the 

*  Benoiston  de  Chateauneuf.  Essai  sur  la  Mortalite  dans 
I'lnfanterie  Fran^aise,  in  Annales  d'Hygiene  Publique,  i™ 
Serie,  vol.  lo,  pp.  239-316,  1833. 


52  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

War  Office,  the  proportion  of  exempts  aver- 
aged in  1827  for  all  France,  43  per  hundred, 
or  one  of  every  three  and  forty-seven  hun- 
dredths.' 

"  Dr.  Chateauneuf  himself  adds:  '  A  weak- 
ened constitution,  an  enfeebled  health,  arrest 
the  flow  of  the  sap  of  life  and  the  development 
of  the  body.  The  man  remains  feeble,  small, 
stunted.  Louis  XIV  bequeathed  to  his  suc- 
cessors a  people  ensmalled  by  long  wars,  and 
Louis  XV,  after  him,  was  obliged  to  reduce  the 
required  height  of  the  soldiers  to  five  feet. 
Since  Louis  XV,  the  same  causes  have  contin- 
ually compelled  the  lessening  of  the  height  re- 
quirement. It  is  at  present  four  feet  and  ten 
inches  ( i  meter,  57  centimeters) ,  but  in  spite  of 
this  continual  lowering,  in  spite  of  the  more 
advanced  age  at  which  the  young  soldier  now 
enters  the  service,  an  age  at  which  the  develop- 
ment of  the  body  is  indeed  near  its  full  limit 
—  although  while  the  militia  takes  possession  of 
him  at  his  very  issuance,  so  to  speak,  at  16  and 
18  years  of  age  —  this  low  stature  of  the  young 
men  is  today,  together  with  the  accompanying 
condition  of  infirmity,  one  of  the  commonest 
causes  of  exemption  from  service.'  " 

Novicow  and  Richet 

The  late  Professor  Jakov  Novicow  of  the 
University  of  Odessa,  one  of  the  most  learned 


RACE  SELECTION  53 

and  vigorous  opponents  of  war,  has  said:'' 
"  War  produces  indeed  a  selection,  a  choice 
of  the  worst.  The  young  men  strongest  and 
most  healthy  go  to  the  war.  Among  its  com- 
batants, the  most  valiant  take  the  lead.  In  con- 
sequence, the  more  perfect  the  individual,  the 
greater  his  chance  to  be  killed.  In  most  battles 
it  is  the  best  that  fall.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
feeble  and  sickly  elements,  those  not  enrolled 
under  the  banners  of  war,  reproduce  them- 
selves, while  the  flower  of  the  nation  is  con- 
demned to  celibacy  or  to  relations  with  prosti- 
tutes, this  leading  so  often,  alas,  to  the  most 
fatal  results." 

The  arguments  as  to  race  selection  in  war, 
that  war  conserves  the  white  races  as  against 
the  others,  Novicow  shows  to  be  likewise  falla- 
cious: "Let  us  admit  that  the  white  race  is 
superior.  We  cannot  say  that  it  was  created 
by  natural  selection,  by  the  elimination  of  in- 
ferior races  or  by  their  extermination,  since 
most  of  the  globe  is  peopled  by  these  races 
called  inferior,  the  white  race  forming  a  small 
minority.  .  .  .  Progress  depends  upon  thou- 
sands of  factors,  of  which  race  conflict  is  one 
of  the  least  important.  The  struggle  as  a 
whole  with  the  conditions  of  life  plays  always 
the      dominant     role.  .  .  .  Natural     selection 

*  The   following   paragraphs    are   condensed    from    Novi- 
cow's  La  Critique  du  Darivinism  Social. 


54  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 


among  men  operates  not  by  homicide  but  by 
economic  phenomena.  The  Individuals  best  en- 
dowed have  their  well-being  assured;  the  others 
fail.  Positive  selection  operates  through  nat- 
ural death.  This  factor  is  infinitely  more  im- 
portant than  war,  because  it  acts  constantly, 
while  homicide  appears  at  rare  intervals.  Nat- 
ural death  strikes  all  the  world,  while  violent 
death  on  the  battlefield  strikes  soldiers  only,  a 
small  minority  of  the  population.  Still  another 
claim  is  set  up  by  Renan  and  Schallmeyer. 
These  authors  claim  in  substance  that  war  de- 
stroys the  states  which  are  badly  organized, 
preserving  those  governments  favorable  to  the 
human  species,  thus  promoting  progress.  *  If,' 
say  Renan,  '  a  state  is  not  constantly  under  the 
menace  of  conquest,  it  Is  difficult  to  measure  the 
degree  of  debasement  to  which  its  people  may 
descend.'  "  To  this,  Professor  Novicow  ef- 
fectively answers : 

"  Since  1783  the  United  States  of  America 
have  had  no  fear  of  being  conquered  by  their 
neighbors.  In  these  128  years  they  have  real- 
ized some  progress.  The  population  has  risen 
from  4,000,000  to  88,000,000.  In  agricul- 
ture, industry,  commerce,  technical  inventions, 
and  even  in  science,  the  Americans  stand  among 
the  first  nations  on  earth.  Far  from  '  falling 
to  sleep,'  the  Americans  are  the  most  wide- 
awake and  active  people  on  earth. 

*'  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  very  easy  to  prove 


.  RACE  SELECTION  SS 

that  the  fear  of  being  conquered  produced  pre- 
cisely the  *  abasement '  indicated  by  Renan. 
To  attribute  human  progress  to  one  factor,  war, 
and  to  neglect  the  thousands  on  thousands  of 
others,  is  the  most  illogical  reasoning  that  one 
could  imagine.  Nowhere  else  in  social  studies 
have  learned  men  fallen  into  an  error  so  colos- 
sal." 

Plainly,  the  history  of  peace  in  the  various 
nations  is  the  history  of  the  slow  recuperation 
of  races  from  the  effects  of  war.  Most  phases 
of  natural  selection,  in  society  as  in  nature,  make 
for  advance,  very  slow  no  doubt,  but  real. 
Every  war  means  a  step  backward,  long  or 
short  in  proportion  to  the  accompanying  de- 
struction of  virile  elements. 

Professor  Charles  Richet,^  of  the  Chair  of 
Physiology  in  the  University  of  Paris,  thus 
discusses  military  selection : 

"  In  nature,  when  two  animals  fight  with  one 
another,  it  is  the  more  valiant  that  survives. 
Disease  attacks  the  weak  ones;  those  of  greater 
vigor  and  courage  live  on  to  perpetuate  the 
race  of  the  courageous  and  strong.  But  in  war 
among  men  .  .  .  the  selection  is  reversed,  and 
conduces  to  the  impoverishing  of  the  race. 

"  First,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  sick 

and  the  infirm  are  exempt  from  service.     Those 

who   have   any  weakness  —  such  as  the   deaf 

mutes,  the  one-eyed,  the  one-armed,  the  crip- 

«  Le  Passe  de  la  Guerre  et  I'Avenir  de  la  Paix. 


56  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

pies,  the  hare-lipped,  the  rickety,  the  scrofulous, 
the  deranged,  the  lunatics,  and  the  imbeciles  — 
all  these  diseased  and  impotent  people  are  well 
protected  by  the  military  laws,  and  not  one  of 
these  unfortunates  runs  any  risk  of  perishing 
on  the  field  of  battle.  Those  who  are  chosen 
to  disappear  are  the  halest  and  heartiest.  Ro- 
bust youths,  the  hope  of  future  generations, 
these  are  the  ones  who  are  declared  fit  for  serv- 
ice. 

"  On  the  field  of  battle  it  is  always  the  same 
kind  of  men,"  according  to  a  well-known  say- 
ing,"^ "  who  get  themselves  killed."  .  .  . 

"  From  a  biological  point  of  view,  long  wars 
are  exhausting  to  a  nation  and  conducive  to 
actual  degeneracy.  For  at  last,  as  during  the 
period  of  the  Napoleonic  massacres  between 
1798  and  1 8 15,  all  the  able-bodied  population 
ends  by  being  annihilated  on  the  field  of  battle, 
and  the  weak  and  infirm  and  cowardly  are  alone 
left  to  carry  on  the  race.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  serious  evils  among  the  innumerable  ones 
which  follow  in  the  wake  of  war. 

"  And,  finally,  need  I  remind  any  one  that  in 
time  of  peace  —  that  sinister  peace  which  means 
only  a  preparation  for  war  —  syphilis,  alcohol- 
ism and  tuberculosis,  inevitable  results  of  all 
agglomerations  of  human  beings  and  of  all  mil- 
itary institutions,  are  hardly  to  be  reckoned  as 

'"A  la  guerre,  ce  sont  toujours   les  memes  qui  se  font 
tuer." 


RACE  SELECTION  57 

especially  advantageous  for  the  coming  genera- 
tions, if  they  are  to  be  taken  into  account." 

War  as  Race  Suicide 

"  The  Great  War,"  says  Romain  Holland, 
is  "  a  sacrilegious  conflict,  which  shows  a  mad- 
dened Europe  ascending  its  funeral  pyre,  and 
like  Hercules  destroying  itself  with  its  own 
hands." 

"  Each  nation  justifies  its  own  share  in  the 
present  struggle  on  the  ground  that  it  is  vir- 
tually waging  a  war  of  self-preservation.  If 
all  this  is  the  outcome  of  a  war  of  self-preserva- 
tion, one  would  like  to  know  what  form  a  war 
of  self-destruction  would  take.  '  Your  King 
and  country  need  you  '  is  the  patriotic  appeal, 
and  those  who  respond  are  immediately  thrust 
by  King  and  country  as  fuel  into  a  smoking 
furnace.  .  .  ."  ^ 

Says  Professor  Kellogg,  "  War  to  the  biol- 
ogist seems,  above  all  else,  stupid.  It  is  ra- 
cially dangerous.  It  so  flies  in  the  face  of  all 
that  makes  for  human  evolutionary  advance, 
and  is  so  utterly  without  shadow  of  serious 
scientific  reason  for  its  maintenance.  It  is  not 
natural  selection  in  Man,  nor  in  any  way  the 
counterpart  of  it.  Its  like  does  not  exist  in 
Nature  outside  the  forays  of  the  few  degenerate 
fighting  ant  species,  some  of  whom  have  lost 
the  power  of  caring  for  their  young,  and  hence 

*  Topeka  Journal. 


58  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

live  as  social  parasites  on  less  barbarous  kinds, 
or  have  given  up  all  other  means  of  feed  get- 
ting than  robbery  by  force  of  numbers.  It  is 
not  only  not  natural  selection,  but  its  results 
are  an  artificial,  unnatural  reversed  selection, 
one  that  turns  on  itself,  giving  no  advantage  to 
the  conqueror,  but  only  many  and  terrible  dis- 
advantages to  victor  as  vi^ell  as  to  loser."  ^ 

In  a  recent  address  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  Dr. 
G.  Stanley  Hall,  President  of  Clark  University, 
thus  speaks  of  the  anti-eugenic  aspects  of  war: 

"  Seven  to  ten  millions  of  the  soldiers  now  in 
the  war,  or  training  for  it,  are  married  men  and 
are  the  most  able-bodied  and  intelligent  poten- 
tial fathers.  Statistics  can  tell  us  approximately 
how  many  children  would,  on  the  average,  have 
been  born  of  these  men,  had  they  stayed  at 
home.  .  .  .  Thus  the  crop  of  best  babies,  which 
is  the  most  precious  of  all  assets  for  both  na- 
tional and  cultural  prosperity,  and  on  which 
national  greatness  depends  more  than  upon  any- 
thing else,  is  greatly  reduced,  for,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  killed  who  will  never  be  parents,  we 
must  also  consider  the  vastly  greater  number 
who,  as  medical  studies  of  the  effects  of  war 
show,  suffer  impairment  in  the  quality  of  their 
future  parenthood,  because  war  always  brings 
such  a  tragic  aftermath  of  nervous  and  other 
physical  deterioration  in  those  who  survive  it, 
as  pension  systems  show." 

*  Beyond  War. 


RACE  SELECTION  59 

Elbert  Hubbard  observes:  "The  warrior 
unfitted  by  wounds  and  disease  to  fight  longer, 
returns  home  to  assist  the  man  who  escaped 
conscription  through  weakness  and  these  two 
march  their  disabilities  down  the  winding  ways 
of  time." 

"  Europe  must  breed,"  says  Bernard  Shaw, 
*'  from  the  men  of  the  last  reserve." 

"  The  strongest  and  best  men,"  says  Robert 
L.  Duffus,  "  those  fittest  to  be  the  fathers  of 
coming  generations,  are  picked  out  by  the  mil- 
itarist system  to  be  mowed  down  by  shell,  to  be 
weakened  by  hardship  and  overstrain,  to  con- 
tract and  perhaps  to  pass  on  to  other  genera- 
tions the  hideous  diseases  of  camps.  Every 
great  war  leaves  the  general  average  of  health, 
strength.  Intelligence  and  morality  a  little 
lower. 

"  The  most  fatuous  of  militarists  in  the  most 
undemocratic  of  nations  has  to  defend  war  on 
the  ground  that  It  is  good  for  the  people,  that 
it  is  a  factor  in  the  working  out  of  national 
destinies;  but  all  the  time,  during  any  war, 
forces  which  he  utterly  ignores  are  at  work  in- 
flicting the  very  gravest  injury  that  can  possibly 
befall  a  nation,  the  lowering  of  the  quality  of 
its  people.  However  the  mean  little  schemes 
of  the  war-makers  may  turn  out,  they  leave 
everybody  worse  off.  No  nation  has  an  ex- 
ternal enemy  half  so  dangerous  as  its  own  war 
party." 


6o  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Dr.  Caleb  Williams  Saleeby  of  London,  dis- 
cussing The  Long  Cost  of  fVar,  says:  ^^ 

"  We  all  find  reasons  for  the  fall  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire  according  to  our  creeds,  Instincts 
and  prejudices.  But  some  of  the  reasons  ad- 
vanced actually  have  reason  In  them.  The  in- 
cessant drain  of  the  right  kind  of  military  stuff 
from  the  population  of  Rome,  led  in  the  long 
run,  to  the  production  of  that  degenerate  peo- 
ple who  wish  only  iov  panem  et  circenses  (bread 
and  circuses).  The  recruiting  officer  rejected 
the  halt  and  blind,  feeble-kneed,  the  easily  fa- 
tigued, saying,  though  he  did  not  know  it: 
'  You  are  not  good  enough  to  be  a  Roman  sol- 
dier; stay  at  home  and  be  a  Roman  father.' 
The  future  was  ruthlessly  sacrificed  by  mili- 
tarism to  the  present,  even  as  now  In  Northern 
Europe. 

"  This  very  morning  as  I  write,  comes  the 
news  that  several  famous  athletes  of  our  own 
race  have  been  killed  in  France.  They  may 
have  been  winning  or  losing,  retreating  or  ad- 
vancing, but  they  are  dead,  and  Britain  will  have 
no  more  sons  of  theirs.  Similarly  the  cor- 
respondents tell  us  how,  in  Paris  and  elsewhere, 
none  of  the  able-bodied  remain,  between,  it  may 
be,  the  ages  of  nineteen  and  fifty.  How,  then, 
Is  the  race  being  recruited,  while  the  regiments 
are  being  recruited?  With  some  personal 
knowledge  of  and  almost  boundless  admiration 

10  lyestminster  Gazette. 


RACE  SELECTION  61 

for  France,  I  can  scarcely  doubt  that  the  heav- 
iest burden  under  which  France  now  bows  is 
the  lack  of  those  sons  of  hers  whose  grand- 
fathers that  should  have  been,  fell  a  century 
ago.  .  .  .  Racial  ruin  in  the  long  sequence  of 
history  is  the  real  nemesis  of  militarism."  " 

War  and  Stature  ^- 

The  lowering  of  the  stature  of  the  French 
soldiers  due  to  the  wars  of  Napoleon  has  be- 
come a  matter  of  common  knowledge.  It  is 
the  saying  in  France  that  "  Frenchmen  are  small 
because  all  our  tall  ancestors  died  in  our  victori- 

11 "  Just  off  the  southern  shore  of  Newfoundland  lie  the 
islands  of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon  —  rather  pathetic  ves- 
tiges of  the  broad  domain  France  hoped  to  possess  on 
this  western  continent.  The  simple  folk  in  this  retired 
colony  have  been  asked  to  send  800  men  to  the  war.  When 
the  physical  examinations  were  over,  the  officers  found  that 
just  300  men  were  fit  for  service.  These  chosen  men,  the 
very  pick  of  the  colony,  its  best  hope  for  growth  and 
betterment  for  generations  to  come,  are  now  at  sea  on 
their  way  to  the  front.  Before  them  is  desperate  service 
for  their  mother  country;  behind  they  leave  the  chaff  and 
riff-raff  from  which  they  were  winnowed.  Should  they 
return  to  their  homes,  nine  in  ten  will  bring  the  physical 
and  moral  injuries  which  war  inflicts.  This  instance  of 
destructive  selection  takes  our  attention  because  it  comes 
close  to  our  own  shores.  We  should  remember  that  through 
the  villages  and  towns  and  cities  of  almost  all  Europe  the 
same  process  is  at  work.  The  war  is  gnawing  at  the  vitals 
of  our  race  like  the  vulture  that  tortured  Prometheus." 
(Edwin  D.  Mead,  in  the  Boston  Herald.) 

12  Dr.  William  S.  Sadler  has  made  the  following  esti- 
mates of  results  of  reversed  selection  in  the  present  war, 
considering   the   present   physique   of   Americans   and   Euro- 


62  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

ous  wars."  Legoyt  thus  states  the  case:  "  It 
will  take  long  periods  of  peace  and  plenty  before 
France  can  recover  the  tall  statures  mowed 
down  in  the  wars  of  the  Republic  and  the  First 
Empire." 

It  should  be  clearly  noted  that  a  mere  decline 
in  stature  is  in  itself  of  little  racial  significance, 
save  as  an  index  of  decline  in  other  and  more 
vital  regards.  Tall  stature  has  been  sought  for 
in  recruiting  armies  and  so  have  qualities  of 
boldness  and  dash.  The  decline  in  stature  can 
be  measured;  other  qualities  cannot,  but  we  may 
fairly  assume  that  all  soldierly  traits  have  suf- 
fered together  and  the  measure  of  one  serves 
in  some  degree  as  the  measure  of  all. 

This  matter  has  been  made  the  basis  of  a 
critical  study  by  Professor  Vernon  L.  Kellogg, 
in  the  interests  of  the  Carnegie  Endowment  for 
Peace.  A  synopsis  of  the  results  of  this  study 
is  given   in  Social  Hygiene,   December,    19 14. 

peans  with  an  estimate  of  the  average  of  the  Europeans 
after  the  war  is  over: 

Present  European 

American.          European.  After   War. 

Average    height     68.5   in.                   67  in.  65   in. 

Weight      150  lbs.               141    lbs.  136  lbs. 

Strength  of  arms     ii49i   lbs.            1,208  lbs.  836  lbs. 

Strengrth  of  legs     2,195   'hs.            1,846  lbs.  1,428  lbs. 

Strength  of  trunk     >,332  lbs.            1,090  lbs.  818  lbs. 

Total    body    strength. ...  5,018  lbs.           4,144  lbs.  3,082  lbs. 

Chest  measurement     ....    34.2  in.               33.5   in.  32.5   in. 

Chest  expansion      3.5  in.                  3.2  in.  2.8  in. 

Lung  capacity     240  cub.  in.      225  cub.  in.  205  Cub.  in. 

Lung  strength     81   mill.              72  mill.  60  mill. 

Circumference    of    head..       22  in.              20.5  in.  20.8  in. 
» 

This  table  is  quoted  by  Prof.  Herbert  Eugene  Walter  of 
Brown  University,  in  the  Philadelphia  Inquirer. 


RACE  SELECTION  63 

"  France  has  kept  for  over  a  century  an  inter- 
esting set  of  official  records  which  offers  most 
valuable  data  for  the  scrutiny  of  the  biological 
student  of  war.  They  are  the  records  of  the 
physical  examination  of  all  the  male  youths  of 
France  as  these  youths  reach  their  twentieth 
year  of  age,  and  offer  themselves,  compulsorily, 
for  conscription.  .  .  . 

"  The  minimum  physical  condition  for  actual 
enlistment  has  varied  much  with  the  varying 
needs  of  the  nation  for  men  of  war.  In  cer- 
tain warring  periods  of  her  history  France  has 
had  to  drain  to  the  very  limit  her  resources  in 
men  able  to  bear  arms.  Most  notably  this  con- 
dition obtained  during  the  nearly  continu- 
ous twenty-year  period  of  the  Napoleonic 
Wars. 

"Louis  XVI  in  1701  fixed  the  minimum 
height  of  soldiers  at  1624  mm.  But  Napoleon 
reduced  it  in  1799  to  1598  mm.  (an  inch  lower) 
and  in  1804  he  lowered  it  two  inches  further, 
namely,  to  1544  mm.  It  remained  at  this  fig- 
ure until  the  Restoration,  when  (18 18)  it  was 
raised  by  an  inch  and  a  quarter,  that  is,  to  1570 
mm.  In  1830,  at  the  time  of  the  war  with 
Spain,  it  was  lowered  again  to  1540  mm.,  and 
finally,  in  1832  again  raised  to  1560  mm.  Na- 
poleon had  also  to  reduce  the  figure  of  minimum 
age. 

"  The  death  list,  both  in  actual  numbers  and 
in  percentage  of  all  men  called  to  the  colors, 


64  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

during  the  long  and  terrible  wars  of  the  Revo- 
lution and  Empire,  was  enormous.  And  the 
actual  results  in  racial  modification  due  to  the 
removal  from  the  breeding  population  of 
France  of  its  able-bodied  male  youth,  leaving 
its  feeble-bodied  youth  and  senescent  maturity 
at  home  to  be  the  fathers  of  the  new  generation, 
is  plainly  visible  in  the  condition  of  the  con- 
scripts of  later  years. 

"  From  the  recruiting  statistics,  as  officially 
recorded,  it  may  be  stated  with  confidence  that 
the  average  height  of  the  men  of  France  began 
notably  to  decrease  with  the  coming  of  age  in 
1 8 13  and  on,  of  the  young  men  born  in  the 
years  of  the  Revolutionary  Wars  ( 1792-1802), 
and  that  It  continued  to  decrease  in  the  follow- 
ing years  with  the  coming  of  age  of  youths  born 
during  the  Wars  of  the  Empire.  Soon  after 
the  cessation  of  these  terrible  man-draining 
wars,  for  the  maintenance  of  which  a  great  part 
of  the  able-bodied  male  population  of  France 
had  been  withdrawn  from  their  families  and 
the  duties  of  reproduction,  and  much  of  this 
part  actually  sacrificed,  a  new  type  of  boys  be- 
gan to  be  born,  boys  that  had  in  them  an  in- 
heritance of  stature  that  carried  them  by  the 
time  of  their  coming  of  age  in  the  late  1830's 
and  40's  to  a  height  an  inch  greater  than  that 
of  the  earlier  generations  born  in  war  time. 
The  average  height  of  the  annual  conscription 
contingent  born  during  the  Napoleonic  Wars 


RACE  SELECTION  65 

was  about  1625  mm.;  of  those  born  after  the 
war  it  was  about  1655  mm, 

"  The  fluctuation  of  the  height  of  the  young 
men  of  France  had  as  obvious  result  a  steady 
increase  and  later  decrease  in  the  number  of  ex- 
emptions in  successive  wars  from  military  serv- 
ice because  of  undersize.  Immediately  after 
the  Restoration,  when  the  minimum  height 
standard  was  raised  from  1544  mm.  to  1570 
mm.,  certain  French  departments  were  quite 
unable  to  complete  the  number  of  men  which 
they  ought  to  furnish  as  young  soldiers  of  suffi- 
cient height  and  vigor  according  to  proportion 
of  their  population. 

"Running  nearly  parallel  with  the  fluctuation 
in  number  of  exemptions  for  undersize  is  the 
fluctuation  in  number  of  exemptions  for  infirm- 
ities. These  exemptions  increased  by  one-third 
In  twenty  years.  Exemptions  for  undersize 
and  Infirmities  together  nearly  doubled  In  num- 
ber. But  the  lessening  again  of  the  figure  of 
exemptions  for  infirmities  was  not  so  easily  ac- 
complished as  was  that  of  the  figure  for  under- 
size. The  influence  of  the  Napoleonic  Wars 
was  felt  by  the  nation,  and  revealed  by  its  re- 
cruiting statistics,  for  a  far  longer  time  In  its 
aspect  of  producing  a  racial  deterioration  as  to 
vigor  than  In  its  aspect  of  producing  a  lessening 
stature.  .  .  . 

"  And  disease  .  .  .  has  stricken  and  still 
strikes  soldiers  not  only  in  war  time  but  In  the 


66  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

piplngest  time  of  peace.  And,  what  is  almost 
worse  for  the  individual  and  decidedly  so  for 
the  race,  its  stroke  is  less  often  death  than  per- 
manent infirmity.  The  constant  invaliding 
home  of  the  broken-down  men  to  join  the  civil 
population  is  one  of  the  most  serious  dysgenic 
features  of  militarism.  In  the  French  army  in 
France,  Algeria,  and  Tunis  in  the  13-year 
period,  1 872-1 884,  with  a  mean  annual  strength 
of  413,493  men,  the  mean  annual  cases  of 
typhoid  were  11,640,  or  one  typhoid  case  to 
every  36  soldiers!  In  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  the  mortality  among  the  armies  on  peace 
footing  in  France,  Prussia,  and  England  was 
almost  exactly  50  per  cent,  greater  than  among 
the  civil  population.  When  parts  of  the  armies 
were  serving  abroad,  especially  if  in  the  tropics, 
the  mortality  was  greatly  increased.  In  1877 
the  deaths  from  phthisis  in  the  British  army 
were  two  to  one  in  the  civil  population.  And 
how  suggestive  this  is,  when  we  recall  that  the 
examining  boards  reject  all  obviously  phthisis- 
tainted  men  from  the  recruits.  The  proportion 
was  still  three  to  two  as  late  as  1884.  In  the 
last  war  of  our  scientifically  enlightened  country, 
the  deaths  from  disease  in  camp  were  eight  to 
one  from  the  incidents  of  battle.  But  we  could 
do  better  now.  And  so  may  France  and  Eng- 
land." 


RACE  SELFXTION  67 

Amnion's  Arguments 

The  most  important  attempt  in  the  name  of 
science  to  minimize  the  evil  effects  of  military 
selection  is  that  of  Dr.  Otto  Ammon  of  Jena.^^ 
His  special  thesis  is  that  the  best  men  should 
rule,  and  that  such  a  condition  is  brought  about 
by  selection  ruthless  and  without  regard  to  any 
principle  of  equality  or  democracy.  He  con- 
tends that  war  has  this  result,  exerting  on  the 
whole  a  helpful  and  advantageous  selection. 
He  admits  that  partisan  warfare,  banishments 
and  executions  in  ancient  time  left  Rome  weak 
in  men  of  force  and  ability  to  lead.  But  a  dif- 
ferent result  comes  from  the  massacres  in  war 
and  conquest.  In  them,  it  is  the  weak  rather 
than  the  strong  who  are  extirpated.  "  A  hun- 
dred years  after  the  unspeakable  desolation  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War,  in  which  Germany  was 
robbed  of  three-fourths  of  her  people,  arose 
Goethe  and  Kant."  Thus  while  recognizing, 
in  part  at  least,  the  fact  of  reversal  of  selection 
by  war  he  denies  it  in  the  case  of  massacre. 

"  War,"  continues  Dr.  Ammon,  "  is  sur- 
rounded by  many  evils,  but  one  should  not  push 
his  criticism  too  far.  In  its  total  result,  war  is 
a  blessing  to  mankind  because  it  is  the  only 
means  to  measure  the  power  of  nation  with 
nation,  granting  victory  to  the  bravest.  War 
is  the  highest  and  most  majestic  form  of  the 

13  Die  Gesellschaftsordnung  und  ihre  NatUrlichen  Grund- 
lagen."    Jena,   1896. 


68  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

struggle  for  existence  and  being  indispensable, 
it  should  not  be  abolished.  War  is  not  alone 
to  be  considered  in  the  sense  of  a  factor  in  Nat- 
ural Selection  by  which  in  strength  and  spirit 
a  stronger  nation  gains  the  overlordship  it  de- 
serves, but  it  can  also  produce  selection  among 
individuals  in  an  important  sense. 

"  It  is  wrong  to  generalize  the  effects  of  war, 
as  though  all  wars  produced  like  results.  Our 
losses  in  1870-71  were  great  and  painful,  yet 
the  general  loss  amounts  to  only  a  small  figure. 
At  the  end  of  the  war  those  children  born  in 
1 87 1  and  1872  showed  its  improving  influence. 
Paradoxical  this  seems  at  first  sight;  it  is  self- 
evident  on  closer  inspection." 

This  condition,  Ammon  explains,  "  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  while  bullets  kill  indiscriminately, 
the  losses  of  disease,  numbering  more  than  half 
of  the  slain,  are  confined  mainly  to  the  weaker 
of  the  soldiery.  Besides  this,  the  children  fol- 
lowing the  war  sprang  from  stronger  stock,  men 
steeled  {gestdhlt)  by  war.  Germany  has  never 
had  better  conscripts  than  in  1893,  when  the 
sons  of  the  early  seventies  entered  the  ranks." 

Dr.  Ammon  insists  that  the  same  was  true 
in  France,  in  which  nation  the  contingent  of 
1893  ^^^1  to  the  surprise  of  the  army,  un- 
usually good  and  serviceable.  "  Short  wars 
act  as  clearing  storms  to  the  population.  After- 
wards they  give  a  new  vigor  which  shows  itself 
in  the  greater  health  of  infants,  the  hardening 


RACE  SELECTION  69 

of  the  grown  people  and  a  notably  increased 
movement  of  the  spirit." 

This  paper  of  Dr.  Ammon,  with  many  sim- 
ilar discussions  by  authorities  In  Germany,  Is 
vitiated  through  the  omission  of  a  single  fact. 
A  selection  much  to  the  detriment  of  the  popu- 
lation had  been  made  already  before  war,  the 
strong  being  chosen  for  military  service  and  for 
decimation  while  the  weak  were  released.  The 
army  had  no  use  for  the  cripples,  the  deformed, 
the  organically  diseased  and  the  dwarfs.  These 
were  all  handed  back  to  the  population  by  the 
recruiting  commission.  Naturally  they  were 
largely  the  fathers  of  the  contingents  of  1891 
and  1892.  In  the  class  of  1893  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^ 
returning  soldiers  found  their  places  as  well. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that  these 
boys  were  in  any  way  superior  to  their  fellows 
born  before  the  war.  Assertions  to  this  effect 
rest  on  comparisons  with  the  necessarily  weaker 
average  of  those  brought  forth  during  the  war 
period. 

Observations  of  La  Pouge 

In  his  Selections  Sociales,  Vacher  de  La 
Pouge  discusses  the  alleged  compensating  Influ- 
ence of  increase  of  births  after  war  and  the 
superior  character  of  the  subsequent  genera- 
tion. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  contingents  of  1891 
in  Germany  and  of  1892  in  France  were  notably 


WAR  AND  THE  BREED 


poor.  The  rise  In  quality  and  in  numbers  after 
the  war  of  1870-71  was  a  natural  result  of  a 
sudden  partial  return  to  normal  conditions. 
Most  of  the  soldiers  had  then  got  back  home 
and  had  resumed  their  usual  vocations.  There 
is  nothing  pertinent,  he  asserts,  in  the  fact  that 
those  who  returned  had  been  "  steeled " 
{"ffestdhlt")  and  "hardened"  {"  ahgehdr- 
tet")  by  war.  They  had  simply  come  back 
alive  into  the  ranks  of  civil  society.  It  should 
also  be  noted  that  doubtless  there  were  among 
them  many  more  of  the  weakened  and  maimed 
than  of  those  strengthened  by  the  ordeals 
through  which  they  had  passed. 

La  Pouge  further  asserts  that  in  1870  In 
France  there  was  a  shortage  of  25,000  from  the 
normal  number  of  marriages,  the  shortage  oc- 
curring in  the  second  half  of  the  year,  and 
caused  by  the  call  of  conscripts  to  the  war. 
Also  50,000  young  men  had  been  torn  away 
within  a  few  days  or  a  few  weeks  after  mar- 
riage. The  end  of  the  war  was  naturally 
marked  by  an  "  epidemic  of  marriage,"  the  num- 
ber of  unions  In  1872  (353,000)  being  the 
highest  reached  in  France  since  18 13.  In  18 13, 
due  to  a  desire  to  escape  through  marriage  from 
the  call  to  arms,  there  were  387,000  weddings 
In  France,  120,000  above  the  normal.  "  It  Is 
needless,"  says  La  Pouge,  "  to  look  further  for 
the  Increase  In  the  number  of  births  In  1872." 
As  for  the  Improvements  In  quality,  the  return 


RACE  SELECTION  71 

of  the  men  from  the  colors  restores  In  large 
part  the  normal  average.  The  longer  the  war 
and  the  greater  the  loss  of  life,  the  less  fully 
would  this  be  accomplished. 

These  facts,  says  La  Pouge,  "  are  not  with- 
out interest  in  the  point  of  view  of  military 
selection.  But  to  regard  them  as  evidences  that 
war  is  a  cause  favorable  to  selection  through  the 
elimination  of  the  feeble  would  be  a  positive 
error.  The  defective  individuals  are  still  pro- 
tected from  the  direct  attack  of  the  enemy." 

The  claim  sometimes  made  that  a  higher  per- 
centage of  male  children  follow  war  belongs  to 
folk-mythology,  having  so  far  as  known  no  sus- 
taining facts. 

La  Pouge  quotes  from  a  study  made  in  the 
community  of  Herault  ^"^  in  Languedoc,  these 
facts  as  to  the  "  children  of  the  war." 

"  If  one  compares  the  stature  of  the  classes 
1887  ^"d  1891,  the  last  formed  of  'children 
of  the  war,'  born  in  1871,  one  finds  that  the 
average  of  the  disinherited  class  is  much  smaller. 
In  8  cantons  alone  the  stature  of  1891  is  equal, 
in  nearly  all  the  others  It  is  lower  than  that  of 
1887.  The  cantons  where  the  amelioration  is 
noticed  are  urban  cantons  where  the  increased 
prosperity  of  these  later  years  has  produced  a 
more    precocious    growth.     In    fact,    my    re- 

^^  Materiaux  pour  la  Geographie  Anthropologique  de 
I'Herault;  Bull  de  la  Soc.  Languedoc  de  Geographie  1894. 
fasc.  3.  4. 


72  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

searches  In  Herault  show  that  the  check  of  de- 
velopment due  to  town  life  has  almost  disap- 
peared for  some  years  past.  The  reduction  of 
stature  Is  most  marked  In  those  regions  where 
the  original  average  was  highest.  Thus  the 
canton  of  Servain,  which  furnished  fine  men 
and  which  was  a  choice  contingent  under  the 
colors  during  the  war  falls  from  meters  1.68  to 
1.64." 

La  Pouge  thus  generalizes :  "  All  social  evo- 
lution Is  dominated  by  selection.  In  virtue  of 
the  organization,  psychic,  cerebral  and  cranial, 
the  ethnic  elements  multiply  or  are  eliminated. 
Events  thus  produce  selective  movements,  and 
selection  produces  historic  events.  The  more 
advanced  the  civilization,  the  more  effective  Is 
social  selection.  Its  effects  are  greatest  the 
more  rapid  the  social  progress.  The  period  of 
arrest  and  reversal  occurs  soonest  for  the  races 
best  endowed  and  for  all  humanity.  Systematic 
selection  seems  to  be  the  only  possible  means  of 
escape  from  approaching  mediocrity  and  from 
final  relapse.  However  difficult  (eugenic)  se- 
lection may  be  In  practice,  we  should  not  regard 
it  as  Impossible.  We  should  not  lay  undue 
stress  on  the  obstacles  due  to  the  Ideals  of  the 
times.  In  the  future  and  v/ith  races  who  think 
and  feel  differently,  these  obstacles  will  disap- 
pear, In  whole  or  in  part.  Horizons  of  which 
we  have  not  the  least  idea  may  thus  open  before 
humanity." 


RACE  SELECTION  73 

Traumatic  Neurosis 

"  The  anthropologist,"  says  Henry  Scofield, 
"  sees  but  one  enemy  in  the  field.  That  enemy 
is  the  lasting  injury  to  progeny  of  the  nations 
at  war  through  seeds  of  disease  and  debility  to 
be  planted  in  the  constitutions  of  the  men  fight- 
ing today  in  the  battlefields  of  Europe." 

Among  the  secondary  evils  of  war  is  that  of 
Traumatic  Neurosis,  nervous  disorganization 
due  to  injuries  to  brain-cells  following  the  shock 
of  big  guns  and  of  terrible  trials  in  war.  Such 
disturbances,  it  is  believed,  affect,  through  nerve 
connections,  the  germ-cells  also,  rendering  a  man 
less  fit  for  parentage,  as  his  children  are  likely 
to  suffer  from  some  type  of  nervous  disorder. 
For  this  reason.  Traumatic  Neurosis  may  per- 
haps be  ranked  with  the  "  Race  Poisons."  ^^ 

Hrdlicka's  Observations 

The  effects  of  great  shocks  on  soldiers  are 
thus  summed  up  by  Dr.  Ales  Hrdlicka,  an- 
thropologist of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  in 

^^ "  During  the  siege  of  Port  Arthur,  especially  toward 
the  close,  the  Russian  soldiers  were  so  subject  to  mental 
aberration  that  they  frequently  attacked  one  another  under 
the  impression  that  the  Japanese  were  making  an  assault. 
Panic-fear,  so  well  known  as  an  element  of  war,  which 
attacks  even  seasoned  troops,  is  only  a  special  case  of  this 
disturbance  of  mental  balance  due  to  the  violent  and  un- 
accustomed  emotions   of   conflict."     (Dr.    Consiglio.) 

See  The  Red  Laugh,  by  Leonid  Andreev,  a  gruesome 
study  of  the  mental  condition  of  the  Russian  troops  about 
Mukden. 


74  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

a  personal  letter  dated  January  23,  19 15,  and 
here  printed  with  author's  consent: 

"  In  accordance  with  your  wishes,  I  give  you 
in  a  totally  unpretentious  way  a  few  opinions 
of  my  own  as  to  some  of  the  pathological  re- 
sults of  the  present  war,  particularly  on  the 
nervous  system  of  the  combatants  and  on  their 
progeny.  They  will  be  to  some  extent  more 
than  the  opinions  of  an  outsider  for,  in  the  early 
years  of  my  anthropological  work,  I  was  for  a 
number  of  years  associated  with  the  insane, 
epileptic,  feeble  minded,  criminal  and  other  ab- 
normal classes. 

"  Even  under  ordinary  conditions  of  life  there 
will  come  under  the  observation  of  the  special- 
ist numerous  cases  of  so-called  traumatic  neu- 
rosis, insanity,  epilepsy,  and  other  mental  and 
nervous  disturbances,  due  to  shocks  of  explo- 
sions or  collisions,  and  to  falls,  blows,  and  other 
forms  of  Injury  to  the  head  or  the  whole  body. 
In  many  cases  these  effects  are  of  a  serious 
nature,  deep-seated  and  quite  intractable.  Be- 
sides such  major  effects  of  shocks  there  are 
numerous  cases  of  chronic  irritability,  hysterism, 
and  other  lasting  mental  and  nervous  disturb- 
ances which  have  been  caused,  awakened,  or 
aggravated  by  sustained  violence. 

"  If  we  now  consider  the  nature  of  the  mod- 
ern warfare,  with  the  preponderance  of  heavy 
artillery  and  consequent  frequent  violent  explo- 
sions, which  disable  men  within  a  large  radius 


RACE  SELECTION  75 

by  concussion  alone,  and  which  besides  scatter 
fragments  of  iron  and  balls  that  frequently  pro- 
duce direct  and  serious  injuries  to  the  skull  or 
spinal  column,  we  cannot  but  expect  that  there 
will  be  many  men  left  after  the  war  whose 
brain  and  nervous  system  will  bear  pathological 
results  of  these  shocks  and  injuries. 

"  Such  men  will  marry  in  many  cases  and 
create  progeny.  But  a  father  with  epilepsy, 
even  though  of  traumatic  origin,  or  with  neu- 
rasthenia, nervous  instability,  or  other  marked 
disorders  or  weakening  of  his  nervous  system, 
cannot  be  expected  to  give  rise  to  normal 
progeny.  Judging  from  many  analogous  ex- 
periences with  similar  cases,  it  seems  safe  to 
assume  that  all  deep-seated,  long  continued  men- 
tal and  general  nervous  disturbances  will  affect 
unfavorably  the  trophic  centers  that  control  the 
development  of  the  germ  cells,  with  the  result 
of  a  more  or  less  defective  mental  or  nervous 
state  in  the  progeny  of  such  individuals. 

"  Former  wars,  barring  some  sieges,  can 
scarcely  be  compared  in  these  respects  with  the 
present  one,  for  armies  In  the  past  have  had 
little  heavy  artillery,  with  none  of  the  powerful, 
modern  high  explosives,  and  other  conditions 
of  warfare  were  such  that  deep  mental  and 
nervous  shocks  must  have  been  far  less  fre- 
quent. 

"  But  It  Is  not  only  the  direct  Injuries  to  the 
brain  or  nervous  system  which  come  into  con- 


76  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

sideratlon  In  connection  with  the  subject  of  the 
deleterious  influences  on  the  race  of  the  present 
war.  Perhaps  even  greater  harm,  both  in  the 
way  of  resulting  defective  personalities  and  fol- 
lowing defective  progeny,  will  result  from  the 
extreme  and  prolonged  tension  that  must  be 
sustained  In  many  cases  by  the  soldier  In  the 
trenches,  for  days  and  even  weeks  at  a  time,  with 
maxima  of  excitation,  fatigue  and  depression; 
from  the  infectious  diseases,  such  as  typhoid, 
and  from  the  diseases  of  the  various  Important 
organs  such  as  the  heart,  liver,  kidneys,  and 
the  digestive  apparatus,  contracted  through 
overstrain,  exposure  or  direct  Injuries.  All 
such  conditions  will  leave  lasting  marks  on  the 
organism.  They  will  produce  a  large  class  of 
Invalids,  and  these  invalids,  at  best,  will  not  be 
able  to  give  the  proper  care  to  their  progeny; 
but  In  many  cases  they  will,  doubtless,  not  be 
able  any  more  to  transmit  to  their  progeny  a 
'  healthy  mind  and  a  healthy  body.' 

"  Those  who  are  killed  outright  may  really 
be  regarded  as  Individually  more  fortunate  In 
comparison  with  those  of  their  comrades  who 
become  chronically  111  or  debilitated  for  life; 
and  their  lot  Is  also  the  more  fortunate  one  for 
the  race,  for  they  will  propagate  no  defectives 
as  will  many  of  their  surviving  comrades. 

"  Viewed  In  this  light,  modern  warfare  be- 
comes a  great  enemy  of  the  human  race.  It 
not  only  kills  many  of  the  most  healthy  and 


RACE  SELECTION  77 

competent  but  it  will  create  and  perpetuate  on 
a  large  scale  many  serious  organic  defects, 
which,  like  the  proverbial  sins,  will  plague  hu- 
manity for  generations.  The  victor  and  the 
vanquished  will  suffer  alike.  It  is  indirect  ra- 
cial suicide  on  a  large  scale,  and  should  the  war 
last  for  years,  recovery  from  it  in  western  Eu- 
rope, regardless  of  the  economical  side,  will  be 
long  and  difficult." 

Battlefield  Infections 

Dr.  John  B.  Huber  writes  thus  of  the  in- 
fections of  camp  and  battle: 

*'  What  if  one  should  prophesy  that  this  war 
is  going  to  be  decided  by  no  bullet  of  metal,  but 
by  that  infinitely  microscopic  bullet  known  to 
doctors  as  the  pathogenic  bacterium  or  the  dis- 
ease-breeding germ  —  a  bullet  of  sentient,  liv- 
ing fiber  that  evolves  poisons  from  which  many 
more  die  than  the  weapons  of  the  enemy  can 
destroy."   .  .  . 

"  In  the  world's  large  standing  armies  tuber- 
culosis has  long  played  a  leading  part.  For  it 
is  a  disease  that  begins  to  take  its  heaviest  toll 
(one  in  three  or  four  under  the  ordinary,  non- 
military  circumstances  of  life)  v/ith  the  adoles- 
cent. And  many  enlisted  men  have  this  most 
surreptitious  of  diseases  in  latent  form,  either 
to  manifest  itself  under  the  stresses  of  cam- 
paigning or  to  appear  soon  after  the  exhausting 
and   predisposing   warfare    Is    ended.     In   the 


78  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

English  service,  consumption  is  the  chief  cause 
of  mortaHty  and  invahdlng;  in  the  French  serv- 
ice consumption  is  second  only  to  typhoid. 
Typhoid  has  in  times  past  been  a  ghastly  deci- 
mator  of  armies  —  rather,  let  us  say,  a  quadri- 
mator,  even  a  tertiomator  of  troops.  The  Ger- 
man military  surgeons  began  anti-typhoid  vac- 
cinations; practically  all  European  armies  have 
followed  suit;  and  our  own  regular  army  has 
by  this  means  been  practically  fortified  against 
its  ravages." 

In  civilized  nations  the  soldier  is  protected 
before  the  battle  begins  from  smallpox  by  vac- 
cination, from  typhoid  fever  by  serum  inocula- 
tion, and  from  other  diseases  by  all  the  various 
agencies  known  to  the  most  progressive  of  mod- 
ern sciences,  preventive  medicine.  But  in  the 
rough  work  of  the  field,  he  is  subject  to  con- 
stant attacks  from  the  parasitic  bacteria  and 
protozoa  which  cause  infectious  disease.  Ty- 
phus fever  is  carried  by  lice;  other  fevers  by 
fleas,  mosquitoes  and  other  insects  which  have 
him  at  their  mercy. 

Cholera,  so  long  the  fighting  mate  of  war, 
comes  from  the  East.  Modern  sanitation  had 
of  late  kept  it  out  of  Europe,  until  the  recent 
conflicts  in  the  Balkans  called  it  back  to  Rou- 
mania  and  Servia.  It  will  spread  again  with  the 
hot  weather  of  summer,  bidding  a  defiance  to  the 
Interrupted  efforts  at  battle  sanitation.  Dysen- 
tery may  spread  widely  when  once  the  water 


RACE  SELECTION  79 

courses  become  infected  with  the  Amoeba  which 
produces  it. 

One  of  the  greatest  scourges  of  the  battle- 
field is  Tetanus,  or  Lockjaw.  The  germs  of 
this  disease  occur  in  all  cultivated  soil,  especially 
when  manured.  Any  closing  wound  into  which 
infected  dirt  has  been  introduced  is  likely  to  be 
followed  by  lockjaw,  unless  the  remedial  serum 
can  be  at  once  applied.  Scarcely  less  disastrous 
is  a  field  infection  producing  gaseous  inflation  of 
the  tissues,  a  condition,  I  understand,  thus  far 
without  remedy. 

Attempts  at  surgery  in  the  absence  of  anaesthe- 
tics and  antiseptics  have  formed  one  of  the  spe- 
cial horrors  of  all  war.  Even  with  the  best  of 
scientific  knowledge  and  skill,  warfare  conditions 
make  successful  operations  precarious.  There 
can  be  nothing  more  ghastly  than  a  field  hospi- 
tal in  which  a  few  surgeons  work  in  awful  stress 
and  under  the  most  baffling  limitations.  The 
Medical  records  kept  in  certain  conflicts  of  the 
past,  notably  Leipzig  and  the  Wilderness  of 
Spottsylvania,  are  among  the  most  gruesome 
documents  in  existence. 

Losses  in  War 

Colonel  G.  F.  R.  Henderson  of  London  thus 
estimates  the  losses  in  killed  and  wounded  in 
twenty  battles  showing  greatest  fatalities,  be- 
tween 1704  and  1882. 


8o 


WAR  AND  THE  BREED 


Killed 
and    Percent- 
Battle                             Date  No.  engaged  Wounded  age 

Leipzig     1813  440,000  92,000  20 

Borodino     1812  262,000  75,000  28 

Aspern     1809  170,000  45,000  26 

Wagram    1809  370,000  44,000  11 

Eylau    1807  133,500  42,000  33 

Waterloo   1815  170,000  42,000  24 

Gettysburg    1863  163,000  37,000  24 

Chickamauga    1863  128,000  35,000  27 

Friedland    1807  142,000  34,000  23 

Malplaquet     1709  200,000  34,000  17 

Vionville   1870  168,000  32,800  19 

Zorndorf    1758  84,760  32,000  38 

Solferino    1859  295,000  31,500  10 

Blenheim   1704  116,000  31,000  26 

Kunnersdorf     1759  113,000  31,000  27 

Gravelotte     1870  320,000  30,000  9 

Koniggratz     1866  317,000  26,894  6 

Wilderness   1864  179,000  26,000  14 

Austerlitz    1805  148,000  25,000  i6 

Spottsylvania     1864  150,000  25,000  16 

Ypres  1^     1915  1,000,000  500,000 

According  to  the  London  Evening  News,  the 
latest  list  (173)  in  the  Prussian  Armies  make  a 
total  of  killed,  wounded  and  missing  (to  March 
I,  1915)  of  1,050,029  men.  Besides  these, 
160  lists  from  Bavaria,  136  from  Wurtemberg, 
1 19  from  Saxony  and  20  from  the  Navy,  435  in 
all,  have  been  issued  in  Germany. 

The  California  Outlook  thus  enlarges  on 
these  estimates :  "  The  last  eight  Prussian  lists 
contain  33,142  names,  or  an  average  of  4,143 
to  each  list.     The  average  for  the  entire  173 

i«  Estimate  of  Will  Irwin. 


RACE  SELECTION  81 

Prussian  lists  is  6,069  to  each  list.  Taking  the 
smaller  of  these  two  averages,  and  cutting  even 
it  down  to  4,000,  by  striiving  out  the  odd  num- 
bers, and  we  would  have,  even  on  this  underes- 
timate, 1,740,000  casualities  for  the  non-Prus- 
sian part  of  Germany,  or  2,790,029  for  the  en- 
tire German  army.  This  is  more  than  all  the 
soldiers  who  served  for  any  period,  short  or 
long,  on  the  Union  side  in  the  American  Civil 
War.  Taking  the  average  of  the  Prussian  lists 
as  probably  the  average  for  the  others,  we  have 
2,640,015  German  casualities  outside  of  Prus- 
sia, or  3,690,044  for  all  the  German  armies. 
This  is  more  than  all  the  soldiers  on  both  sides 
in  the  American  Civil  War. 

"  In  other  words,  if  every  soldier  who  enlisted 
in  our  war,  in  the  whole  four  years,  had  been 
lost,  the  number  would  not  yet  have  equaled 
the  losses  of  the  German  army  alone,  in  a  little 
over  half  a  year  of  war.  It  would  certainly  be 
an  underestimate  to  compute  the  Russian,  Aus- 
trian, Belgian,  French  and  British  losses  com- 
bined at  twice  those  of  the  Germans.  Probably 
they  are  nearly  proportionate  to  their  total  num- 
bers engaged.  But  even  at  three  times,  the 
losses  to  date  of  all  the  European  armies  must 
be  over  ten  million  men.  There  are  about 
twenty  million  adult,  able-bodied  men  In  the 
United  States.  The  European  losses  already 
equal  half  of  these  —  a  sum  of  grief  and  tears 
and  blood  equal  to  depriving  every  second  fam- 


82  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Ily  in  America  of  its  adult  father  or  adult  son. 
It  is  a  thing  colossal,  staggering,  incomprehen- 
sible. Nothing  remotely  approaching  it  ever 
happened  in  the  world  before,  and  civilized  man- 
kind could  not  survive  its  happening  twice."  ^^ 

Are  There  Compensations? 

In  every  war,  it  has  been  argued  that  there 
have  been  certain  compensations  in  exaltation 
of  character  among  soldiers  in  the  field  and, 
quite  as  often,  among  those  who  suffer  at  home. 

In  an  eloquent  paragraph,  in  which  he  lays 
great  emphasis  on  the  biological  evils  of  re- 
versed selection  due  to  modern  war,  Professor 
J.  Arthur  Thomson  of  Aberdeen  adds  this  note 
of  appreciation  of  the  soldier :     "  Who  does  not 

1^  From  a  German  Social  Democrat  manifesto  (April  8, 
1915),  signed  by  Karl  Liebknecht,  George  Ledebour,  Rosa 
Luxembourg,  and  others,  we  take  the  following: 

"  The  human  mind  cannot  grasp  the  misery  these  figures 
represent.  It  cannot  conceive  of  the  sufferings  of  the  mil- 
lions of  human  beings  whose  homes  have  been  devastated 
by  the  War  God.  .  .  .  Besides  exhausting  us,  the  present 
war  is  ruining  future  generations.  While  the  cry  of  na- 
tional defense  could  be  used  with  sincerity  at  the  beginning, 
the  imperialists  of  both  sides  now  make  it  clear  that  they 
are  fighting  to  destroy  the  rival  nation.  To  avert  a  new 
period  of  armed  peace  they  wish  to  crush  the  enemy  so 
that  he  cannot  rise  again.  The  same  proclamation  is  made 
in  Germany,  England,  France  and  Austria.  What  would  be 
the  result  if  this  bloody  fury  were  allowed  to  run  its  course 
unopposed?  Either  tyrannical  domination  by  the  conqueror 
or  blood  spilt  till  both  sides  were  absolutely  exhausted.  In 
any  case,  Europe's  economic,  democratic  and  socialistic  de- 
velopment would  be  retarded  a  century." 


RACE  SELECTION  83 

admire  what  Mr.  Sandeman  says  in  his  Uncle 
Gregory?  That  quite  unmistakable  note  that 
you  get  in  a  very  few  people  who  in  one  way 
or  another  have  actually  accepted  death  and  are 
only,  so  to  speak,  alive  in  the  meantime.  It  be- 
longs to  the  flawless  perfection  of  the  military 
spirit,  with  its  entire  detachment  from  life  it- 
self, from  self-will,  from  fear,  from  ease  and 
from  all  pretense." 

The  son  of  a  valued  friend  in  Germany  wrote 
this  to  his  sister,  just  before  his  death  in  Po- 
land: *'  One  who  stands  in  the  field,  so  often 
face  to  face  with  death,  knows  how  to  value 
life.  But  he  loses  also  the  fear  of  death,  for 
he  knows  that  the  highest  fortune  is  the  forget- 
ting of  personality,  the  offering  up  of  self. 
And  this  takes  all  terror  from  death." 

But  this  "  flawless  perfection  "  is  by  no  means 
a  development  from  the  military  spirit.  It  be- 
longs to  the  make-up  of  the  man  himself.  It  is 
shown  as  often  by  physicians  and  nurses  or  even 
by  firemen  as  by  warriors.  It  is  as  likely  to  ap- 
pear in  a  shipwreck,  an  earthquake,  or  a  pesti- 
lence as  in  the  welter  of  battle.  As  Profes- 
sor Thomson  observes:  "  The  story  of  the  ex- 
ploration and  conquest  of  earth  and  sea  is  full 
of  heroes  whose  work  is  constructive,  not  de- 
structive. The  man  who  has  grit  enough  to 
bring  about  the  afforestation  or  the  irrigation 
of  a  country  is  not  less  worthy  of  honor  than  its 
conqueror."     Through  the  ages  men,  civilians 


84  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

and  soldiers  as  well,  have  given  their  lives  to 
save  others. 

"  In  Europe,  in  war  time,  moral  conditions," 
says  Julia  Grace  Wales, ^^  "  are  very  far  from 
normal  —  not  abnormally  low,  but  almost  super- 
humanly  high.  The  very  unity  and  cohesion  of 
a  race  has  carried  the  individual  beyond  his 
normal  range.  Each  people  is  as  a  single  fam- 
ily; there  is  neither  high  nor  low,  rich  nor  poor, 
but  a  brotherhood  of  men.  No  man  counts  his 
life  dear  unto  himself.  All  are  fighting,  with 
unquestioning  devotion  for  homes  and  father- 
land, for  language,  institutions,  traditions,  for 
all  that  they  hold  most  sacred  and  most  dear. 
Whatever  we  may  believe  about  the  folly  or  the 
deliberate  wrongdoing  of  governments,  the  fact 
remains  that  each  people  is  in  a  state  of  spiritual 
exaltation.  Individuals  are  everywhere  think- 
ing, feeling,  suffering,  facing  the  ultimate  issues 
of  life  and  death.  Their  senses  are  sharpened, 
their  spirits  sensitized  to  the  significance  of  what 
had  become  commonplace,  to  familiar  land- 
scapes, to  the  associations  of  home,  to  the  ideals 
of  the  race,  to  its  heroism  and  its  poetry,  to  the 
symbols  of  its  religion.  This  thing  is  like  a 
tidal  wave  of  the  sea;  it  has  drawn  deep."  . 

But  these  conditions  of  exaltation  are  features 
of  personal  sacrifice,  of  fear  and  dread  and  hope. 
They  are  temporary,  resulting  often  in  no  per- 
manent elevation   of   character.     At  the  best, 

1*  "  The  Wisconsin  Plan  "  of  Peace. 


RACE  SELECTION  85 

they  are  the  efforts  of  gentle  spirits,  bred  in 
security,  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  insecurity, 
horror  and  waste  of  war.  The  same  traits  ap- 
pear in  Hke  degree  in  face  of  any  mighty  calam- 
ity. But  the  effect  of  war  as  a  whole  is  not 
uplifting,  whatever  the  feeling  of  the  devoted 
ones  left  at  home  who  cast  their  wedding  rings 
into  the  melting  pot  to  furnish  gold  for  the  cam- 
paigns. 

The  fact  that  in  all  the  nations  of  Europe 
today  men  throw  away  their  lives  with  unsur- 
passed courage  shows  how  little  is  the  value  of 
the  martial  ardor  men  have  cultivated  in  time 
of  peace  as  a  preparation  for  defensive  war. 
Courage  needs  no  artificial  stimulus.  More- 
over, there  is  no  inheritance  of  the  martial 
spirit  engendered  by  war  or  by  patriotic  hate. 
This,  at  the  most,  is  only  an  "  acquired  char- 
acter," a  matter  of  training  and  education,  which 
may  affect  the  individual  life,  but  cannot  color 
the  stream  of  heredity.  The  entire  discipline 
of  the  war-system  is  devised  to  make  men  not 
heroes  but  automatic  cogs  in  a  machine  of  de- 
struction. That  a  soldier  may  nevertheless  be 
a  hero,  is  a  tribute  to  human  nature,  to  the  edu- 
cation of  peace  and  not  to  that  of  war. 

To  those  writers  who  claim  that  courage, 
magnanimity,  incentive,  all  have  their  founda- 
tions in  war,  we  must  return  a  simple  denial. 
War  creates  nothing.  Whatever  is  left  when 
war  is  ended  becomes  the  heritage  of  the  race. 


86  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

And  courage,  boldness,  Initiative,  war  consumes 
in  more  than  Its  due  measure.  The  magnanim- 
ity of  war  Is  inherent  in  human  nature,  persist- 
ing In  spite  of  war.  "  Flashes  of  nobility  like 
lightning  against  a  dark  sky  are  not  part  of 
war  Itself.  They  are  the  surviving  agencies  of 
peace  struggling  against  pitiful  odds  to  undo  an 
infinitesimal  fraction  of  the  havoc  of  war." 

In  his  charming  studies  of  Feudal  and  Mod- 
ern Japan,  Mr.  Arthur  Knapp,  then  of  Yoko- 
hama, returns  again  and  again  to  the  great 
marvel  of  Japan's  military  prowess  after  more 
than  two  hundred  years  of  peace.  This  was 
demonstrated  in  the  Chinese  war,  and  more  con- 
clusively shown  on  the  fields  of  Manchuria  since 
Mr.  Knapp's  book  was  written.  It  is  astonish- 
ing to  him  that,  after  more  than  six  generations 
In  which  physical  courage  had  not  been  de- 
manded, this  virile  virtue  should  be  found  un- 
impaired. 

But  this  is  just  what  should  have  been  ex- 
pected. In  times  of  peace  there  Is  no  slaughter 
of  the  strong,  no  sacrifice  of  the  courageous. 
In  the  peaceful  struggle  for  existence  a  premium 
Is  placed  on  vigor  and  intelligence.  The  virile 
and  the  self-reliant  survive.  The  Idle,  weak 
and  dissipated  go  to  the  wall.  "  What  won  the 
battles  on  the  Yalu,  in  Korea  or  Manchuria," 
says  Professor  Inazo  Nitobe,  "  was  the  ghosts 
of  our  fathers  guiding  our  hands  and  beating  in 


RACE  SELECTION  87 

our  hearts.  They  are  not  dead,  these  ghosts, 
these  spirits  of  our  warHke  ancestors.  Scratch 
a  Japanese,  even  one  with  the  most  advanced 
ideas,  and  you  will  find  a  Samurai."  Trans- 
lated from  the  language  of  Shintoism  to  that  of 
science  we  find  it  a  testimony  to  the  strength  of 
race-heredity. 

If  after  two  hundred  years  of  incessant  bat- 
tle Japan  still  remained  virile  and  warlike,  that 
would  indeed  be  a  marvel.  But  such  marvel 
no  nation  has  even  seen.  It  is  doubtless  true 
that  warlike  traditions  are  most  persistent  with 
nations  most  frequently  engaged  in  war.  Tra- 
ditions of  war,  however,  and  the  physical 
strength  to  gain  victories  are  very  different. 
Other  things  being  equal,  the  nation  which  has 
known  least  of  war  is  the  one  most  likely,  when 
necessary,  to  develop  the  "  strong  battalions  " 
which  bring  victory. 

The  little  mountain  kingdom  of  Montenegro 
is  sometimes  used  as  a  demonstration  that  much 
war  breeds  strong  men,  for  the  Montenegrins, 
physically  superior  to  their  brother  Serbians,  are 
tall,  straight  and  strong  and  they  have  fought 
much,  within  and  without,  as  their  belts 
crammed  with  daggers  and  pistols  seem  to  tes- 
tify. Time  and  again  have  they  made  forays 
on  the  Turks  in  Albania,  taking  their  fortresses 
by  storm,  while  at  home  the  custom  of  private 
revenge  for  personal  wrong  has  been  a  duty 
almost  religious.     Herbert  Spencer  quotes  from 


88  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Boue :  "  In  Montenegro,  one  will  say  of  a  man 
whose  clan  has  killed  a  member  of  another, 
'  This  clan  owes  us  a  head  and  this  debt  must 
be  paid,  for  who  does  not  revenge  himself  can- 
not be  sanctified.'  " 

Originally  the  Montenegrins  were  Serbians 
who  defied  the  Turk  and  fled  to  their  inaccess- 
ible limestone  crags.  They  were  a  picked 
group  physically,  men  of  indomitable  will. 
They  have  not  mixed  with  other  races,  and  all 
their  members  have  practically  the  same  inherit- 
ance of  superior  blood.  They  constitute  a  little 
group  selected  for  courage  and  not  yet  ruined 
by  war. 

Ruskin's  Testimony 

John  Ruskin  once  gave  an  address  on  the 
higher  ideals  of  war  before  the  cadets  of  the 
Royal  Military  Academy  at  Woolwich. ^^  He 
spoke  of  the  nobler  features  of  the  profession, 
its  freedom  from  selfish  ends,  its  "  cleanli- 
ness "  as  compared  with  the  soot  of  industrial- 
ism. 

"  All  pure  and  noble  arts  of  peace,"  he  said, 
"  are  founded  on  war;  no  great  art  ever  rose  on 
earth  but  among  a  nation  of  soldiers.  There 
is  no  art  among  a  shepherd  people  if  it  remains 
at  peace.  There  is  no  art  among  an  agricul- 
tural people  if  it  remains  at  peace.     Commerce 

19  The  Crown  of  Wild  Olive. 


RACE  SELECTION  89 

is  barely  consistent  with  fine  art,  but  cannot  pro- 
duce it.  Manufacture  not  only  is  unable  to  pro- 
duce it,  but  invariably  destroys  whatever  seeds 
of  it  exist.  There  is  no  great  art  possible  to  a 
nation  but  that  which  is  based  on  battle." 

The  above  words  have  been  many  times 
quoted,  not  for  their  inherent  value,  but  because 
Ruskin  wrote  them.  They  constitute  a  sort  of 
paradox,  for  everywhere  else,  even  in  the  same 
address,  their  author  accentuates  the  value  of 
human  life.  For  the  time  being,  his  mind  is 
not  fixed  on  the  actualities  of  war.  Every  form 
of  human  activity  (unconnected  with  coal  and 
steam),  war  included,  might  contribute,  he  be- 
lieved, to  spiritual  elevation.  But  he  was 
plainly  not  thinking  of  the  warfare  in  which 
these  cadets  might  have  to  engage ;  rather  of  the 
ancient  contests  between  man  and  man.  Of 
modern  slaughter  by  machinery  elsewhere  he 
says: 

"  If  you  have  to  take  away  masses  of  men 
from  all  industrial  employment  —  to  feed  them 
by  the  labor  of  others  —  to  move  them  and  pro- 
vide them  with  destructive  machines,  growing 
daily  in  national  rivalship  of  inventive  cost;  if 
you  have  to  ravage  the  country  which  you  at- 
tack —  to  destroy  for  a  score  of  future  years 
its  roads,  its  woods,  its  cities,  and  its  harbors; 
—  and  if,  finally,  having  brought  masses  of 
men,  counted  by  hundreds  and  thousands,  face 
to  face,  you  tear  those  masses  to  pieces  with 


90  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

jagged  shot,  and  leave  the  fragments  of  Hving 
creatures,  countlessly  beyond  all  help  of  surgery, 
to  starve  and  parch,  through  days  of  torture, 
down  into  clots  of  clay  —  what  book  of  accounts 
shall  record  the  cost  of  your  work?  That,  I 
say,  is  modern  war, —  scientific  war, —  chemical 
and  mechanic  war,  worse  even  than  the  savage's 
poisoned  arrow." 

Ralph  Bronson  thus  comments  on  this: 
"  When  one  considers  the  hellish  perfection  to 
which  '  chemical  and  mechanic  '  war  has  been 
brought  since  Ruskin's  time,  one  cannot  but  feel 
that  even  that  supreme  master  of  language 
would  have  been  at  a  loss  for  words  forcible 
and  fiery  enough  to  express  his  abhorrence  of 
the  '  insensate  devilry '  of  modern  war.  I,  for 
one,  cannot  but  believe  that  he  would  have  pre- 
ferred to  see  all  the  great  cultural  treasures  of 
the  past  perish  like  the  manuscripts  of  Louvain 
or  the  painted  glass  of  Rheims  rather  than  that 
Europe  should  be  devastated  and  brutalized  as 
is  being  done  today." 

Social  Darwinism 

Through  the  custom  of  framing  a  system 
to  justify  a  line  of  conduct,  the  philosophy  of 
"  Social  Darwinism  "  has  beein  developed. 
This  is  in  brief  the  attempt  to  justify  war  as  a 
necessary  phase  of  "  The  Struggle  for  Exist- 
ence," naturally  leading  to  the  "  Survival  of  the 
Fittest  "  in  human  society  and  in  the  society  of 


RACE  SELECTION  91 

nations.  As  a  part  of  this  process,  war  is 
lauded  as  necessary  to  enable  God  to  wipe  out 
the  meanest  of  his  creatures,  gathered  in  small, 
weak,  backward  or  peace-loving  nations,  leaving 
thus  the  field  to  the  "  deep-lunged  children  of 
the  fatherland,"  with  their  "  religion  of  valor." 
This  doctrine  has  no  legitimate  connection  with 
Darwinism.  Darwin,  as  already  stated  (prefa- 
tory note)  saw  clearly  that  the  war  system  was  a 
reversal  of  the  process  of  natural  selection. 

Against  the  misuse  of  the  phrase  "  Social 
Darwinism,"  Major  Leonard  Darwin,  the  son 
of  Charles  Darwin  and  president  of  the  Eu- 
genics Education  Society  of  London,  enters  the 
following  just  protest:  (London  Times,  Sept., 
1914.) 

"  In  so  far  as  Darwinism  has  any  connection 
with  Darwin  this  (Social  Darwinism)  is  wholly 
erroneous.  Several  passages  might  be  quoted 
from  my  father's  writing  very  different  from 
'  the  will  of  the  stronger.'  In  '  The  Descent  of 
Man '  he  told  us  that  there  are  other  agencies 
more  Important  than  the  struggle  for  existence; 
*  for  the  moral  qualities  are  advanced,  either  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  much  more  through  the  ef- 
fect of  habit,  the  reasoning  powers.  Instruction, 
religion,  etc.,  than  through  natural  selection.' 
No  doubt  he  believed  that  selection  was  the  most 
potent  factor  making  for  racial  advancement. 
But  are  the  fittest  now  surviving?  What  sec- 
tion of  our  nation  is  more  '  fit '  than  the  noble- 


92  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

minded,  courageous,  and  healthy  men  who  are 
now  volunteering  by  thousands  to  go  to  the  war, 
where  so  many  must  die?  Eugenics  is  the  prac- 
tical application  of  scientific  doctrines  to  human 
affairs,  and  I  say  unhesitatingly  that  war  is  ut- 
terly dysgenic.  Fight  we  must,  and  fight  to 
win.  But  it  is  the  worship  of  brute  force  and 
not  the  doctrine  of  evolution  which  must  stand 
condemned." 

The  philosophy  of  Social  Darwinism  ex- 
pounded In  detail  by  many  writers  in  different 
nations  Is  nowhere  more  compactly  expressed 
than  by  General  Friedrich  von  Bernhardi  ^^  in 
his  Deutschland  iind  der  Nachste  Krieg.  He 
observes : 

"  Since  1795,  when  Immanuel  Kant  published 
in  his  old  age  his  treatise  on  *  Perpetual  Peace,' 
many  have  considered  it  an  established  fact  that 
war  is  the  destruction  of  all  good  and  the  origin 
of  all  evil.  In  spite  of  all  that  history  teaches, 
no  conviction  is  felt  that  the  struggle  between 
nations  is  inevitable,  and  the  growth  of  civiliza- 
tion is  credited  with  a  power  to  which  war  must 
yield.  But,  undisturbed  by  such  human  theories 
and  the  change  of  times,  war  has  again  and 
again  marched  from  country  to  country  with 
the  clash  of  arms,  and  has  proved  Its  destructive 
as  well  as  creative  and  purifying  power.     It  has 

20  Friedrich  von  Bernhafdi,  General  of  Cavalry  in  Ger- 
many, and  for  some  years  a  member  of  the  General  Staff  of 
the  German  army.     {Wer  I  si's.) 


RACE  SELECTION  93 

not  succeeded  in  teaching  mankind  what  its  real 
nature  is.  Long  periods  of  war,  far  from  con- 
vincing men  of  the  necessity  of  war,  have,  on  the 
contrary,  always  revived  the  wish  to  exclude 
war,  where  possible,  from  the  political  inter- 
course of  nations.   .   .   . 

"  This  desire  for  peace  has  rendered  most 
civilized  nations  anaemic,  and  marks  a  decay  of 
spirit  and  political  courage  such  as  has  often 
been  shown  by  a  race  of  Epigoni.  '  It  has  al- 
ways been,'  H.  von  Treitschke  tells  us,  '  the 
weary,  spiritless,  and  exhausted  ages  which  have 
played  with  the  dream  of  perpetual  peace.' 

"  Everyone  will,  within  certain  limits,  admit 
that  the  endeavors  to  diminish  the  dangers  of 
war  and  to  mitigate  the  sufferings  which  war  en- 
tails are  justifiable.  It  is  an  incontestable  fact 
that  war  temporarily  disturbs  industrial  life,  in- 
terrupts quiet  economic  development,  brings 
widespread  misery  with  it,  and  emphasizes  the 
primitive  brutality  of  man.  It  is  therefore  a 
most  desirable  consummation  if  wars  for  trivial 
reasons  should  be  rendered  impossible,  and  if 
efforts  are  made  to  restrict  the  evils  which  fol- 
low necessarily  in  the  train  of  war,  so  far  as  is 
compatible  with  the  essential  nature  of  war. 
All  that  the  Hague  Peace  Congress  has  accom- 
plished in  this  limited  sphere  deserves,  like 
every  permissible  humanization  of  war,  uni- 
versal acknowledgment.  But  it  is  quite  another 
matter  if  the  object  is  to  abolish  war  entirely, 


94  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

and  to  deny  its  necessary  place  in  historical  de- 
velopment. 

"  This  aspiration  is  directly  antagonistic  to 
the  great  universal  laws  which  rule  all  life. 
War  is  a  biological  necessity  of  the  first  im- 
portance, a  regulative  element  in  the  life  of  man- 
kind which  cannot  be  dispensed  with,  since  with- 
out it  an  unhealthy  development  will  follow, 
which  excludes  every  advancement  of  the  race, 
and  therefore  all  real  civilization.  '  War  is 
the  father  of  all  things.'  .  .  . 

"  That  social  system  in  which  the  most  effi- 
cient personalities  possess  the  greatest  influence 
will  show  the  greatest  vitality  in  the  intrasocial 
struggle.  In  the  extrasocial  struggle,  in  war, 
that  nation  will  conquer  which  can  throw  into 
the  scale  the  greatest  physical,  mental,  moral, 
material,  and  political  power,  and  is  therefore 
the  best  able  to  defend  itself.  War  will  furnish 
such  a  nation  with  favorable  vital  conditions, 
enlarged  possibilities  of  expansion  and  widened 
influence,  and  thus  promote  the  progress  of  man- 
kind; for  it  is  clear  that  those  intellectual  and 
moral  factors  which  insure  superiority  in  war  are 
also  those  which  render  possible  a  general  pro- 
gressive development.  They  confer  victory  be- 
cause the  elements  of  progress  are  latent  in 
them.  Without  war,  inferior  or  decaying  races 
would  easily  choke  the  growth  of  healthy  bud- 
ding elements,  and  a  universal  decadence  would 
follow.     '  War,'  says  A.  W.  von  Schlegel,  '  is 


RACE  SELECTION  95 

as  necessary  as  the  struggle  of  the  elements  in 
Nature.'   .  .   . 

"  Strong,  healthy  and  flourishing  nations  in- 
crease in  numbers.  From  a  given  moment  they 
require  a  continual  expansion  of  their  frontiers, 
they  require  new  territory  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  their  surplus  population.  Since  almost 
every  part  of  the  globe  is  inhabited,  new  terri- 
tory must,  as  a  rule,  be  obtained  at  the  cost  of  its 
possessors  —  that  is  to  say,  by  conquest,  which 
thus  becomes  a  law  of  necessity. 

"  The  right  of  conquest  is  universally  ac- 
knowledged. At  first  the  procedure  is  pacific. 
Over-populated  countries  pour  a  stream  of  emi- 
grants into  other  States  and  territories.  These 
submit  to  the  legislature  of  the  new  country,  but 
try  to  obtain  favorable  conditions  of  existence 
for  themselves  at  the  cost  of  the  original  in- 
habitants, with  whom  they  compete.  This 
amounts  to  conquest.   .   .   . 

"  Lastly,  at  all  times  the  right  of  conquest  by 
war  has  been  admitted.  It  may  be  that  a  grow- 
ing people  cannot  win  colonies  from  uncivilized 
races,  and  yet  the  State  wishes  to  retain  the  sur- 
plus population  which  the  mother  country  can 
no  longer  feed.  Then  the  only  course  left  is  to 
acquire  the  necessary  territory  by  war.  Thus 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation  leads  inevitably 
to  war,  and  the  conquest  of  foreign  soil.  It  is 
not  the  possessor,  but  the  victor,  who  then  has 
the  right.  .  .  . 


96  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

"  Might  gives  the  right  to  occupy  or  to  con- 
quer. Might  is  at  once  the  supreme  right,  and 
the  dispute  as  to  what  is  right  is  decided  by  the 
arbitrament  of  war.  War  gives  a  biologically 
just  decision,  since  its  decision  rests  on  the  very 
nature  of  things.   .  .  . 

"  War  depends  on  biological  laws  and  this 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  every  attempt  to 
exclude  it  from  international  relations  must  be 
demonstrably  untenable.  But  it  is  not  only  a 
biological  law,  but  a  moral  obligation,  and,  as 
such,  an  indispensable  factor  in  civilization.  .  .  . 

"  War,  from  this  standpoint,  will  be  regarded 
as  a  moral  necessity,  if  it  is  waged  to  protect 
the  highest  and  most  valuable  interests  of  a  na- 
tion. As  human  life  is  now  constituted,  it  is 
political  idealism  which  calls  for  war,  while  ma- 
terialism—  in  theory,  at  least  —  repudiates 
it.  .   .  . 

"  But  when  the  State  renounces  all  extension 
of  power,  and  recoils  from  every  war  which  is 
necessary  for  its  expansion;  when  it  Is  content 
to  exist,  and  no  longer  wishes  to  grow;  when 
'  at  peace  on  sluggard's  couch  It  lies,'  then  Its 
citizens  become  stunted.  The  efforts  of  each 
Individual  are  cramped,  and  the  broad  aspect 
of  things  Is  lost.  This  is  sufficiently  exempli- 
fied by  the  pitiable  existence  of  all  small  States, 
and  every  great  Power  that  mistrusts  Itself  falls 
victim  to  the  same  curse. 

"  All  petty  and  personal  interests  force  their 


RACE  SELECTION  97 

way  to  the  front  during  a  long  period  of  peace. 
Selfishness  and  intrigue  run  riot,  and  luxury  ob- 
literates idealism.  Money  acquires  an  exces- 
sive and  unjustifiable  power,  and  character  does 
not  obtain  due  respect.  .  .  .  Wars  are  terrible, 
but  necessary,  for  they  save  the  State  from  so- 
cial petrifaction  and  stagnation.  It  Is  well  that 
the  transltorlness  of  the  goods  of  this  world 
Is  not  only  preached,  but  Is  learnt  by  experience. 
War  alone  teaches  this  lesson."  ^^ 

With  the  part  of  Bernhardl's  argument 
which  tries  to  show  that  war,  despite  its  horrors 
and  its  sacrifice  of  Individuals,  Is  the  highest 
duty  of  the  state  and  therefore  above  all  moral 
question,  the  present  volume  Is  not  directly  con- 
cerned. I  need  only  say  that  I  repudiate  the 
idea  In  all  its  ramifications.  But  just  here  we 
deal  especially  with  the  perversion  of  the  cen- 
tral principle  of  Darwinism.  War  does  not 
promote  a  "  Survival  of  the  Fittest."  The  na- 
tion is  made  up  of  Individuals.  It  continues 
through  the  generations  of  men.  It  has  no 
strength,  no  welfare,  no  permanence,  except 
that  given  by  the  individuals  of  which  it  is  suc- 
cessively composed.  The  "  human  harvest  " 
in  each  generation  Is  determined  by  the  quality 
of  the  men  and  women  chosen  or  left  for  the 

21  An  elaborate  answer  to  views  like  these  has  been  given 
by  the  late  Professor  Jakov  Novicow,  of  the  University  of 
Odessa,  under  the  title  of  La  Critique  du  Darivinism  Social. 
Extracts  from  this  work  have  been  elsewhere  given  (page 
53). 


98  WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

duties  of  parenthood.  War  destroys,  perverts 
and  vitiates  the  best  elements  among  these. 
The  philosophy  of  the  war-like  nation  involves 
its  own  destruction.  That  cannot  be  a  national 
duty  which  passes  through  robbery  and  murder 
to  end  in  race  suicide.  And  race  suicide,  in 
greater  or  less  degree,  has  been  the  fate  of  all 
nations  that  have  adopted  the  practice  this  phil- 
osophy promotes. 

"  All  war  is  bad,"  said  Franklin,  "  some  only 
worse  than  others."  "  I  believe,"  said  Frank- 
lin again,  that  "  there  was  never  a  good  war  or 
a  bad  peace."  "  War  is  not  paid  for  in  war 
time;  the  bill  comes  later!  " 

After  the  death  of  Franz  von  Sickingen  in 
the  disastrous  siege  of  Landstuhl  (May  7, 
1523),  Martin  Luther  thus  wrote  to  Spalatin: 

"  Yesterday  I  heard  and  read  Franz  von 
Sickingen's  true  and  sorrowful  story.  God  is  a 
righteous  but  marvelous  Judge."  ..."  Sick- 
ingen's death  is  a  verdict  of  God  that 
strengthens  the  belief  that  force  of  arms  must 
be  held  far  from  matters  of  the  Gospel."  ^^ 

Do  We  Exaggerate? 

Turning  for  a  moment  to  the  war  now  rag- 
ing in  Europe,  certain  final  effects  may  be  dis- 

22 "  Gestern  horte  und  las  ich  Franzens  von  Sickingen's 
wahre  und  klagliche  Geschichte.  Gott  ist  ein  gerechter  aber 
wunderbarer  Richter."  "  Sickingen's  Unfall  war  ihm  ein 
Gottesurtheil    das   ihn    in   der    uebezeugung  bestarkte,   dass 


RACE  SELECTION  99 

cerned.  As  the  greatest  of  all  wars,  it  must 
prove  the  most  disastrous,  and  such  from  every 
point  of  view.  The  number  of  losses  already 
(March,  1915)  rises  high  into  the  millions. 
All  these  individuals  had  been  selected  for 
vigor  and  strength.  The  various  armies  en- 
gaged include  the  great  body  of  the  university 
men,  athletes  and  skilled  laborers  ^^  in  each  of 
the  belligerent  nations.  The  conditions  of  this 
war  leave  little  hope  that  any  large  percentage 
of  those  on  the  firing  line  will  return  unscathed. 
The  future  will  show,  doubtless  as  never  before, 
and  in  all  nations  alike,  that  war-selection  points 
the  way  downward.  To  what  degree  this  will 
be  felt  and  what  will  be  its  visible  effects  on  so- 
ciety, we  have  no  precedent  by  which  we  may 
adequately  estimate.  That  the  damage  will  be 
greater  in  fact  than  will  show  on  the  surface 
one  may  be  very  sure.  It  is  the  men  of  initia- 
tive who  mould  civilization.  Through  them 
social  and  political  betterments  arise.  "  An 
institution  is  but  the  lengthened  shadow  of  a 
man."  The  nation  which  lacks  epoch-making 
men  will  fail  in  epoch-making  history. 

It  will  no  doubt  be  said  by  some  who  read 
this  book  that  its  thesis  is  an  exaggeration,  that 

Waffengewalt  von  der  Sache  des  Evangeliums  feme  zu 
halten  sei."  {Ulrich  von  Hutten,  by  David  Friedrich  Strauss, 
Bonn,  1878.) 

23  It    is    said    that    in    Germany    3500   of    the    best   picked 
mechanics   have   been   assigned   to  the   Aviator   corps. 


loo        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

war  is  but  one  influence  among  others  which 
sift  the  human  breed  for  better  or  for  worse  and 
that  for  all  forms  of  destructive  selection  na- 
ture provides  an  antidote. 

Very  true.  There  are  always  elements 
working  for  reconstruction  and  the  conditions 
most  favorable  for  these  influences  are  security, 
thrift  and  justice  among  men.  Equality  before 
the  law  is  the  central  purpose  of  democracy, 
and  democracy  in  the  long  run  will  mean  se- 
curity and  peace. 

Perhaps  these  pages  as  a  whole  may  consti- 
tute an  exaggeration.  To  see  anything  clearly 
and  separately  is  to  exaggerate  it.  The  micro- 
scope exaggerates  the  size  of  the  object  it  re- 
veals, as  the  telescope  exaggerates  its  nearness. 
A  treatise  on  any  single  topic,  the  history  of 
Rome  or  the  life  history  of  a  lion  or  a  microbe, 
constitutes  an  exaggeration,  so  much  which 
might  divert  our  attention  having  to  be  left  out. 
Thus  exaggeration  becomes  an  instrument  of 
precision,  and  such  an  instrument,  I  have  tried, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  apply  to  "  the  long  cost  of 
war." 


VI.     MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION 

The  Nation  in  Arms  ^ 

As  a  necessary  part  of  the  War  System,  if 
maintained  on  any  scale  of  completeness,  there 
must  be  either  a  large  standing  or  professional 
army  made  up  by  voluntary  enlistment,  or  else 
a  system  of  military  conscription  by  which  part 
or  all  of  the  able-bodied  men  of  the  nation  are 
compelled  for  a  time  to  bear  arms.  The  pro- 
fessional army  is  seen  on  a  small  scale  in  the 
United  States,  on  a  large  one  in  the  British 
Empire,  where,  however,  up  to  the  present  crisis 
it  has  mostly  been  retained  in  India.  A  stand- 
ing army  is,  in  its  organization  and  mainte- 
nance, adverse  to  national  eugenics.  A  redeem- 
ing feature  is  that  it  may  be  left  small,  a  sort 
of  celibate  priesthood  of  militarism,  the  mar- 
riage of  privates  in  the  regular  army  being  gen- 
erally discouraged. 

Compulsory  Service 

To  all  propositions  looking  toward  compul- 
sory military  service  in  the  United  States  as  in 
Great  Britain,  those  who  believe  In  democratic 

1  For   discussion   of   special   features   of   military  conscrip- 
tion, see  Appendix  C,  D. 

lOI 


102        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

freedom  and  the  development  of  the  individual 
can  give  but  one  answer.  Military  service  is  a 
matter  for  each  man  to  decide  for  himself. 
Compulsion  means  the  failure  of  liberty.  It 
is  not  wholesome.  Moreover,  it  is  largely  in- 
strumental in  creating  the  dangers  against  which 
it  guards.  It  has  been  the  bane  of  continental 
Europe  and  a  leading  factor  in  the  most  awful 
catastrophe  of  all  time. 

That  no  man  shall  be  a  soldier  against  his 
will  is  the  sign  of  freedom  in  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States.  "  Every  Englishman's 
house  Is  his  castle."  Every  Englishman's  body 
(except  on  conviction  of  crime  or  of  incompe- 
tence) is  secure  from  official  manhandling. 
The  primal  evil  of  compulsory  military  service 
is  its  onslaught  on  personal  freedom.  The  po- 
litical evil  is  that  its  purpose  being  war,  it  keeps 
the  air  filled  with  war  talk.  War  is  in  itself 
so  irrational,  so  costly,  so  brutalizing,  that  it 
would  be  universally  abhorrent  if  we  could 
separate  it  from  ideas  of  "  patriotism  "  and  of 
glory.  The  European  Conscript  thinks  of  war 
as  the  ultimate  end  for  which  he  is  "  doing 
time."  Above  him  subalterns,  swarming  in 
thousands,  have  no  other  thought  than  war. 
His  higher  officers  (though  not  all  of  them) 
look  forward  to  actual  war  for  exercise,  for 
promotion,  for  the  test  of  their  unverified 
theories,  their  newly  devised  submarines  and 
Zeppelins,   and  their  42-centimeter  siege-guns. 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      103 

All  these  men,  idle  or  malemployed,  pile  up  the 
taxes  on  the  back  of  the  working  man. 

The  "  Nation  in  Arms  "  was  primarily  the 
conception  of  Scharnhorst,  the  great  disciplin- 
arian of  Prussia  who  first  systematized  and  put 
into  form  the  practice  of  militarism.  To  its 
discipline  has  been  ascribed  the  greatness  of 
modern  Germany,  due  in  fact  mainly  to  German 
unity,  industry,  education  and  advancing  science. 
All  elements  of  national  progress  have  their 
roots  in  the  arts  of  peace. 

One  need  not  deny  a  certain  value  —  physical, 
mental  or  even  moral  —  to  military  drill;  nor 
that  a  standing  army  may  be  made  in  some  de- 
gree a  school  for  the  betterment  of  the  indi- 
vidual. We  should  not  in  the  least  depreciate 
the  work  of  those  men  engaged  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  boys  in  "  military  "  institutes.  To  act 
together,  to  move  promptly,  to  obey  orders  — 
all  these  may  be  of  high  value  in  the  training  of 
growing  boys,  but  they  are  matters  wholly  out- 
side of  war. 

Enforced  military  service  of  grown  men 
bears  the  same  relation  to  military  discipline  of 
willing  students  that  stoking  a  furnace  bears  to 
building  one's  own  camp-fire  in  a  forest.  The 
successful  military  school  has  sympathetic 
teachers,  men  to  whom  the  end  of  the  work  is 
character-building.  It  deals  with  boys  at  the 
age  in  which  order  and  obedience  furnish  the 
best  lessons.     It   is   as   far   away   as   possible 


104        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

from  the  evil  atmosphere  of  barracks  and 
brothels,  common  features  of  the  idle  standing 
army. 

Military  service  considers  only  the  purpose 
of  war.  The  discipline  of  the  private  is  too 
often  in  the  hands  of  narrow-minded,  brutal  or 
profane  teachers.  As  a  school,  it  is  at  the  best 
most  costly,  inefficient  and  belated,  its  work  be- 
ing begun  too  late  in  life  to  have  much  educa- 
tional value.  And  in  it  everything  else  is  con- 
sistently subordinated  to  military  ends.  Again, 
to  spend  two,  three  or  more  years  in  camp  in- 
terferes just  so  far  with  the  possibility  of  bet- 
ter training  for  civil  life,  and  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree  reduces  the  likelihood  of  industrial 
or  professional  success.  Naturally,  better 
teachers  and  higher  personal  ideals  are  found 
in  schools  than  in  barracks. 

Military  Drill  as  Physical  Training 

There  Is  in  certain  quarters,  especially  In 
England,  a  curious  perversion  of  Ideas  of  cause 
and  effect.  It  is  freely  admitted  that  war  does 
indeed  destroy  many  of  the  best,  leaving  to  a 
large  extent  the  second-best  to  sire  the  coming 
generations.  But  we  are  further  told  that  this 
defect  is  to  be  remedied  by  compulsory  military 
drill.  The  weak  will  then  be  made  virile  and 
capable  of  begetting  vigorous  progeny.  There 
Is  not  much  truth  in  the  first  assertion  and  none 
in  the  second.     Military  drill  is  a  costly  and  In- 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      105 

efficient  substitute  for  rational  physical  training, 
while  no  results  of  a  process  of  this  kind  on  the 
part  of  the  male  parent  have  permanence  in  he- 
redity. Men  inefficient  by  nature  have  progeny 
of  like  type,  and  the  case  for  the  children  is 
not  materially  modified  by  a  superficial  allevia- 
tion of  the  physical  limitations  of  the  father. 

The  young  men  in  the  British  cadet  corps 
seem  stronger  than  those  outside,  because  they 
are  selected  from  the  beginning.  No  officer 
wants  a  recruit  who  cannot  be  made  to  look  well 
in  uniform.  General  Ian  Hamilton  is  reported 
to  have  said  that  if  the  War  Office  had  control, 
"  never  for  one  moment  would  a  soldier  In- 
spector-General endure  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
weak  eyes,  incipient  deafness,  rotten  teeth,  re- 
laxed throats,  adenoids,  hammer  toes,  flat  feet, 
knock-knees,  now  disfiguring  our  elementary 
schools."      (Impey.) 

But  these  defects  are  hereditary  qualities,  the 
legacy  from  previous  generations  of  just  such 
people,  rejected  from  the  armies  by  drill-ser- 
geants of  the  past.  There  may  be  alleviation 
for  them,  by  surgical  or  other  methods,  but  they 
cannot  be  eliminated  by  military  drill  applied 
to  those  who  have  never  suffered  from  such  de- 
fects. 

The  objections  to  military  training  as  part  of 
a  system  of  general  education  are  mainly  three. 
The  one  is  that  such  training  is  on  the  whole 
highly  specialized  for  a  particular  profession, 


io6        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

and  that,  war.  The  second  is  that  the  martial 
spirit  or  specific  bias  which  this  training  gives 
to  some  degree  unfits  its  possessor  to  consider 
justly  the  affairs  in  which  his  nation  is  con- 
cerned. It  tends  to  exaggerate  that  perverted 
form  of  patriotism  expressed  in  the  words  "  my 
country  right  or  wrong "  to  the  expense  of 
"  planetary  patriotism  "  which  would  have  the 
fatherland  contribute  to  the  welfare  of  the 
world.  A  third  objection  is  that  military  drill 
is  in  the  hands  of  non-commissioned  officers,  in 
general  with  no  fitness  for  teaching,  while  its 
value  as  exercise  is  far  inferior  to  that  of  a  well- 
appointed  gymnasium,  or  even  of  an  ordinary 
athletic  field. 

According  to  the  British  Infantry  Drill  book, 
the  object  aimed  at  in  the  training  of  the  soldier 
is  to  "  fit  him  mentally  and  physically  to  do  his 
duty  in  time  of  war,"  to  be  the  instrument  of 
that  "  ultimate  resource  of  policy  by  which  a 
nation  imposes  its  will  on  its  enemies  in  defense 
of  its  honor,  its  interests,  and  its  existence." 

But  to  quote  the  words  of  Mr.  E.  Adair 
Impey  ^  of  Dunfermline,  an  experienced  special- 
ist in  physical  training:  "The  object  of  gen- 
eral education  should  be  to  fit  the  nation  so  to 
exist  that  its  honor  and  interests  are  maintained 
by  all  those  intermediate  resources  of  policy, 
which  will  never  have  a  chance  of  full  develop- 

2  See  Appendix  B,   for   Mr.   Impey's   detailed   analysis   of 
Military  Drill. 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      107 

ment  or  of  effective  action,  if  all  educational 
powers  are  concentrated  on  the  *  ultimate  re- 
source.' " 

Scientific  physical  training  is  wholly  personal, 
directed  toward  the  upbuilding  of  the  individual. 
Military  drill  is  collective,  necessarily  in  the 
mass.  Experiment  shows,  according  to  Dr.  W. 
Evans  Darby  of  London  that  "  the  average  re- 
sults yielded  by  school  gymnastics  have  three 
times  as  much  value  as  those  yielded  by  drill 
alone.  Military  drill  is  defective  as  it  does  not 
meet  the  physical  demands  of  the  body.  It 
does  not  make  the  youth  erect,  nor  give  him  a 
manly  bearing.  On  the  contrary,  it  tends  to 
make  him  stiff  and  angular  in  his  movements, 
as  well  as  to  droop  and  round  his  shoulders." 

Further  testimony  concerning  the  inadequacy 
of  military  drill  as  physical  training  is  given  by 
Dr.  John  H.  Finley,  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  of  New  York;  by  Professor  Dudley 
A.  Sargent,  Director  of  the  Hemenway  Gym- 
nasium at  Harvard  University;  by  W.  Evans 
Darby  of  London;  and,  in  general,  by  most 
competent  experts  in  physical  training. 

As  to  the  moral  effects.  Dr.  Nathan  C. 
Schaeffer,  Superintendent  of  the  schools  of 
Pennsylvania,  quotes  from  "  a  British  Com- 
mander-in-Chief "  that  *'  Legitimate  warfare 
includes  and  justifies  the  mean,  false,  cowardly, 
and  unchlvalrous  actions  which  youth  have  been 
taught  to  despise  in  their  own  behalf,  such  as 


io8        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

stratagems,  ambushes,  spying,  eavesdropping, 
hitting  from  behind, —  and  when  a  fellow  is 
down, —  lying,  forging  letters,  telegrams,  sig- 
nals to  mislead  the  enemy,  following  up  a  beaten 
enemy  and  hammering  at  him  with  cavalry  and 
artillery  to  annihilate  him,  insisting  on  the  se- 
verest possible  terms  of  surrender  or  refusing 
all  offers  of  surrender  with  the  order  to  '  take 
no  prisoners.'  "  But  in  the  training  of  youth 
for  democratic  citizenship  such  ideals  should 
have  no  place.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Schaeffer: 
"  The  state  should  not  be  conceived  as  organ- 
ized force,  but  force  only  as  a  backing  for  or- 
ganized justice,  and  in  support  of  organized 
good-will." 

The  Boy  Scouts 

To  give  all  advantages  of  drill  and  discipline, 
together  with  wood-craft,  out-of-door  life  and 
resourcefulness  in  the  presence  of  obstacles,  with 
none  of  the  evil  suggestions  of  military  train- 
ing, is  the  object  of  the  Boy  Scout  Movement. 
There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  value  of  such 
discipline  in  helpfulness  and  self-control,  and 
equally  no  doubt  that  many  of  its  essential  vir- 
tues would  be  lost  if  the  Boy  Scouts  were  turned 
into  "  little  soldiers."  Even  in  times  of  great 
stress,  when  military  necessity  lays  hold  on  them 
as  now  (March,  191 5)  in  England  and  Bel- 
gium, their  Scout  training  makes  them  peculiarly 
adequate. 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      109 

The  Australian  Plan 

Australia  and  New  Zealand  have  lately 
adopted  a  system  whereby  boys  of  about  six- 
teen spend  between  two  and  three  weeks  each 
year  in  camp  and  drill.  Opinion  is  divided  as 
to  Its  merits.  The  time  occupied  is  too  short  to 
have  much  military  significance,  except  as  an 
"  entering  wedge  " ;  the  teaching  is  too  bad  to 
give  it  much  educational  value.  That  it  may 
be  an  "  entering  wedge  "  to  conscription  is  a 
chief  reason  for  opposition  to  the  measure. 
But  It  Is  claimed  that  the  wide-ranging  and 
often  Idle  Australian  boy  is  thereby  made  amen- 
able to  discipline  and  accordingly  improved  in 
the  process.  Moreover  the  camp  is  democratic 
and  all  classes  meet  on  the  same  level.  Fur- 
ther, bad  boys  get  here  a  taste  of  good  company, 
but  it  Is  also  admitted  that  good  boys  often  find 
themselves  for  the  first  time  in  bad  company. 
Association  of  the  foul-mouthed  with  the  clean- 
minded  is  not,  as  a  rule,  wholesome.  The  old 
trooper,  "  no  plaster  saint,"  Is  not  on  the  whole 
a  proper  Instructor  for  growing  youth. 

Australia  has  found  the  experiment  extremely 
costly.  The  accepted  reason  for  It,  "  war 
scares  "  as  to  a  possible  seizure  by  Japan  of  the 
unoccupied  lands  of  North  Australia,  has  risen 
to  a  height  of  absurdity.  But  without  the  men- 
ace of  a  tangible  "  enemy,"  a  democratic  peo- 
ple could  hardly  have  been  drawn  Into  such 
legislation.     The  effect  of  the  Great  War  In 


no        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Europe  may  be  to  strengthen  the  movement, 
giving  militarism  a  firm  root  where  It  had  be- 
fore only  a  scanty  foothold.  If  so,  it  will  tend 
to  keep  alive  a  puerile  dread  of  an  imaginary 
danger. 

Eugenics  of  Conscription 

Vacher  de  La  Pouge  {Les  Selections  So- 
ciales)  finds  that  the  disadvantages  of  mili- 
tary service  In  time  of  peace  outweigh  all  ad- 
vantages. "  Militarism  not  only  augments  the 
chances  of  destruction,  but  diminishes  the 
chances  of  reproduction  of  the  chosen,  at  the 
same  time  assuring  to  the  rejected  an  ample 
progeny.  Military  life  causes  deterioration  of 
the  individual.  For  the  few  that  It  strengthens, 
there  are  many  it  tears  down."  Even  in  peace 
the  barrack  is  a  center  of  deterioration  and 
weakness.  The  two  affections  especially  char- 
acteristic "  are  of  an  extreme  importance  from 
the  point  of  view  of  marriage  and  reproduc- 
tion." 

The  eugenic  bearings  of  military  discipline 
are  mainly  two :  postponement  of  marriage  and 
Infection  with  disease  making  marriage  dan- 
gerous or  impossible.  As  to  the  last,  the  stand- 
ing army  has  been  for  centuries  the  reservoir 
of  the  "  red  plague  "  parasites.  Under  the 
most  favorable  conditions  physicians  have  been 
able  only  to  reduce  the  number  of  victims  of 
venereal  disease,  never  to  put  an  end  to  infec- 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      in 

tions.  In  tropical  service  the  proportion  of 
men  ruined  or  half  ruined  is  far  greater  than  in 
temperate  regions.  Venereal  diseases  are  the 
product  of  infection  by  either  of  two  slowly  de- 
veloping parasites,  the  one  a  Spirochete  (pro- 
ducing Syphilis)  an  exceedingly  minute  animal 
organism,  the  other  Gonococcus  (producing 
Gonorrhea)  of  the  nature  of  a  plant.  These 
minute  creatures  are  transferred  by  contact 
from  one  person  to  another,  the  more  delicate 
membranes  of  the  body  being  subject  to  per- 
meation. As  Syphilis  in  particular  may  be 
transferred  from  father  to  mother  and  from 
mother  to  foetus  it  has  been  especially  classed 
among  the  "  racial  poisons."  The  plant  or- 
ganism, Gonococcus,  is  peculiarly  injurious  in 
producing  disorders  of  the  ovaries  with  conse- 
quent sterility  In  the  woman.  Congenital 
blindness  arises  mainly  from  gonorrheal  infec- 
tion. 

The  "  white  slave  traffic  "  of  today  is  largely 
an  outgrowth  of  the  standing  army.  Requisi- 
tions signed  by  commanding  officers  have  been 
frankly  drawn  for  the  replenishment  of  the 
regimental  brothel  or  "  lock  hospital."  ^  The 
term  "  white  slave  "  itself  was  first  used  in  a 
very  different  but  related  sense  by  Napoleon 
III,  who  applied  It  to  his  conscript  soldiers. 
And  in  1867  the  great  journalist,  Emile  Gir- 
ardln,  wrote :     "  If  war  is  to  be  suppressed  in 

3  See  Appendix  F. 


112        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Europe,  this  must  be  done  gradually.  The 
first  step  is  the  abolition  of  the  '  white  slave 
traffic  ' —  that  is,  of  military  serfdom,  the  sup- 
pression of  the  drawing  of  lots  for  men.  It  is 
here  that  a  beginning  should  be  made." 

The  most  important  study  on  the  Eugenics 
of  barrack  life  is  that  of  Professor  Vernon 
L.  Kellogg,  summarized  in  Social  Hygiene,  De- 
cember, 19 14.     Professor  Kellogg  says: 

"  Of  the  congenital  transmission  and  racial 
importance  of  one  terrible  disease,  of  the  vene- 
real disease  group,  and  one  that  more  than  any 
other  is  characteristic  of  military  service,  there 
is  no  shadow  of  a  doubt.  It  is  a  disease  com- 
municable by  husband  to  wife,  by  mother  to 
children,  and  by  these  children  to  their  chil- 
dren. It  is  a  disease  that  causes  more  suffer- 
ing and  disaster  than  phthisis  or  cancer.  It  is 
a  disease  accompanied  by  a  dread  cloud  of  other 
ills  that  it  Causes,  such  as  paralysis,  malforma- 
tions, congenital  blindness,  idiocy,  and  insanity, 
all  of  them  particularly  dysgenic  in  character. 
It  is  a  disease  that  renders  marriage  an  abom- 
ination and  child-bearing  a  social  danger.  And 
as  a  crowning  misfortune  this  disease  does  not 
kill  but  only  ruins  its  victims.  While  phthisis 
and  cancer  carry  off  their  subjects  at  the  rate,  in 
England  today,  of  1000  per  year  to  each  1,000,- 
000  of  population.  Syphilis  kills  but  50  *  per- 
sons a  million.     It  is  not  a  purifying  but  wholly 

*This  figure  does  not  include  a  certain  number  of  deaths 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      113 

contaminating  disease.  It  does  not  select  by 
death.  It  is,  then,  a  disease  of  great  possibil- 
ities and  importance  in  relation  to  racial  dete- 
rioration. 

"  Venereal  disease  is  a  scourge  fostered 
especially  by  militarism.  The  statistics  reveal 
this  at  once.  It  is  the  cause  of  more  hospital 
admissions  among  soldiers  than  any  other  dis- 
ease or  group  of  related  diseases.  It  caused 
31.8  per  cent,  of  the  total  inefficiency  in  the 
British  army  in  19 10.  It  was  the  cause  of  one- 
fifth  of  all  the  British  hospital  admissions  for 
that  year,  yet  it  caused  but  one-hundredth  of  the 
total  military  deaths.  It  causes  one-third  of 
all  the  illness  of  the  British  navy,  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  The  admissions  to  the  hospital 
for  venereal  disease  in  the  British  army  in  India 
reached  in  1895  ^^  terrible  a  figure  as  537  per 
1000  men.  Conditions  are  bettered,  but  are 
still  bad. 

"  Nor  is  the  British  army  by  any  means  the 
greatest  sufferer  from  the  scourge.  The  army 
of  the  United  States  has  twice  as  many  hospital 
admissions  from  the  same  cause.  Russia  has 
about  the  same  as  Great  Britain,  Austria  and 
France  less,  and  Germany  ^  least  of  all.     Ger- 

from  such  para-syphilitic  affections  as  tabes,  which  should 
properly  be  counted   against  syphilis. 

^  A  German  authority  has  questioned  the  accuracy  of  the 
statistics  quoted  below,  by  which  a  special  degree  of  im- 
munity is  claimed  for  Germany.  Those  figures  were  pre- 
pared, my  informant  asserts,  to  give  support  to  the  dubious 


114        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

many,  indeed,  has  done  much  more  to  control 
the  disease  than  any  other  great  nation,  unless 
it  be  Japan,  for  which  I  have  not  been  able  to 
get  data.  The  following  figures  from  the  Brit- 
ish Army  Medical  Report  for  igio  show  the 
rates  of  prevalence  of  venereal  diseases  in  dif- 
ferent armies: 

Year  Per  looo 

Germany  * 1905-06  19.8 

France    1906  28.6 

Austria     ■ 1 907  54.2 

Russia     1906  62.7 

United  Kingdom 1907  68.4 

United  States 1907  167.8 

"  A  measure  of  the  prevalence  of  syphilis 
and  other  venereal  diseases  in  the  civil  popula- 
tion is  difficult  to  get  at.  But  certain  facts  are 
most  suggestive.  Of  the  young  men  who  of- 
fered themselves  for  enlistment  in  the  British 

claim  that  military  service  "provides  a  special  advantage 
of  developing  manhood  in  its  compulsory  exercise,  enforced 
habits  of  discipline,  unescapable  stimulus  to  patriotism,  and 
general  moral  control."  In  the  words  of  a  German  general 
at  the  London  Eugenics  Congress,  "  Military  service  is  not 
injurious  to  the  body,  but  healthful,  not  depressing  to  mind 
and  spirit,  but  inspiring."  But  even  were  we  to  admit  this, 
the  fact  remains  that  armies  exist  for  war;  their  members 
"  especially  selected  and  zealously  cared  for  "  are  chosen  for 
sacrifice,  and  the  more  worthy  the  sacrifice  the  greater  the 
permanent  loss  to  the  nation.  When  a  man  of  character  and 
ability  "  gives  his  life  to  his  country,"  he  gives  more  than 
himself.  He  gives  the  long  line,  the  ever  widening  wedge 
of  those  who  should  be  his  descendants. 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      115 

army  in  19 10,  1.5  per  10,000  were  rejected  be- 
cause of  syphilis,  while  for  the  same  year  in 
the  army,  230  per  10,000  were  admitted  to  hos- 
pitals with  syphilis.  And  for  all  venereal  dis- 
ease the  proportion  was  31.5  per  10,000  of 
those  applying  for  enlistment  rejected,  and  1000 
per  10,000  of  those  in  the  army  admitted  to 
hospital.  In  other  words,  while  the  army  re- 
cruiting boards  ^  discover  in  the  civil  population 
and  reject  back  into  it  but  two  or  three  syphilitic 
men  per  1000,  the  army  finds  within  itself  a 
constant  proportion  of  infected  men  of  many 
times  that  number. 

"  It  is  obvious  from  these  figures  that  vene- 
real disease  finds  in  armies  a  veritable  breeding 
ground.  That  such  disease  is  highly  dysgenic, 
i.  e.,  race  deteriorating  in  influence,  is  indisput- 
able. The  frightful  effects  of  syphilis  in  its 
direct  communication  from  parents  to  children 
are  fairly  well  known  popularly.  But  with  re- 
gard to  the  serious  effects  of  gonorrhea  the 
popular  mind  is  not  equally  well  impressed.  In- 
deed it  is  too  commonly  regarded  as  a  mild  and 
not  very  shameful  disease.  But  medical  opin- 
ion is  really  doubtful  whether  it  is  not,  in  some 
of  its  effects,  as  bad  as  or  even  worse  than 
syphilis.  About  50  per  cent,  of  young  women 
infected  by  young  men  are  made  sterile  by  it. 
Many   are   made   chronic   invalids.     It   is   the 

^  These  boards  probably  pass  a  number  of  men  suffering 
from  the  earlier  stages  of  syphilis.      (V.  L.  K.) 


ii6        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

commonest  cause  of  infant  blindness  (ophthal- 
mia neonatorum).  In  Prussia  30,000  such 
blind  persons  are  to  be  found. 

"  The  congenital  transmission  of  venereal 
disease  is  what  gives  it  its  particularly  dysgenic 
importance.  Such  transmission  has  all  the  force 
of  actual  inheritance.  Indeed,  if  tainting  the 
germ  cells  so  that  the  fertilized  egg  is  prede- 
termined to  develop  into  a  syphilitic  individual 
is  heredity,  then  syphilis  is  literally  an  heredi- 
tary disease.  But  as  between  a  taint  at  concep- 
tion and  one  at  birth,  either  of  which  can  be 
handed  on  to  successive  generations,  there  is 
little  choice  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  stu- 
dent of  race  deterioration.  The  effect  is  typ- 
ically that  of  hereditary  transmission.  Indeed, 
as  an  authority  has  strongly  put  it,  '  Syphilis  is 
the  hereditary  disease  par  excellence.  Its  he- 
reditary effects  are  more  inevitable,  more  mul- 
tiple, more  diverse,  and  more  disastrous  in  their 
results  on  the  progeny  and  the  race  than  in  the 
case  of  any  other  disease.  Syphilis  in  fact,  has 
a  more  harmful  influence  on  the  species  than  on 
the  individual.' 

"  The  facts  speak  for  themselves.  Serious 
war  and  the  preparedness  for  serious  war  mean 
the  temporary  or  permanent  withdrawal  from 
the  population  of  a  part  of  it  selected  for  phys- 
ical vigor  and  often  for  courage,  patriotism,  and 
idealism,  and  the  exposure  of  this  part  to  spe- 
cial   danger    from    death    and    disease.     This 


MILITARY  CONSCRIPTION      117 

death  and  disease,  under  the  circumstances,  are 
not  race-purifying  or  race-enhancing,  but  race- 
deteriorating,  through  the  encouragement  of 
poor  breeding  and  the  fostering  of  heritable, 
race-poisoning  disease.  Every  race  needs  its 
best  possible  inheritance.  Any  institution  that 
tends  to  give  it  less  than  that  is  a  race-injuring 
institution.  Militarism  is  such  an  institution."  "^ 
"  The  most  economical  and  most  positive  fac- 
tor in  human  progress,"  says  Professor  Kel- 
logg? "  is  good  breeding.  Race  deterioration 
comes  chiefly  from  Its  opposite,  bad  breeding. 
Militarism  encourages  bad  breeding.  Despite 
all  delusive  phrases  to  the  contrary,  the  main- 
tenance of  any  army  Is  a  preparation  for  war 
and  a  step  toward  war  and  not  toward  peace. 
Do  governments,  or  will  they,  maintain  this 
blessing  of  military  service  for  the  health  and 
eugenic  advantage  of  their  people?  Is  It  not 
done  solely  from  the  stimulus  of  expected  war? 
Is  It  not  done  solely  with  the  full  expectancy  and 
deliberate  Intention  of  offering  this  particularly 
selected  and  cared  for  part  of  the  population  to 
the  exposure  of  wholesale  mutilation  and  death? 
And  this  death  Is  to  come.  If  at  all,  before  this 
extra-vigorous  part  of  the  population  has  taken 
Its  part  In  race  propagation,  the  precise  func- 
tion the  performance  of  which  the  race  most 
needs  from  It." 

^  See  Appendix  F. 


VII.     THE  WAR  SYSTEM  AND 
WOMEN 

Selection  Among  Women 

We  may  here  note  that  the  process  of  selec- 
tion in  the  War  System  is  confined  mainly  to 
men.  If  the  fittest  among  the  women  were 
also  destroyed,  the  proportion  of  decline  would 
be  twice  as  rapid.  Women  —  personally  the 
greatest  sufferers  from  war  —  in  a  measure  save 
the  day  because  they  are  not  subject  to  the  re- 
versal of  selection.  "Yet  one  consoling  fact," 
observes  Dr.  Saleeby,  "  alone  prevents  this 
longest  price  of  war  from  ruining  even  victo- 
rious nations  more  quickly  and  surely  than  it 
does.  It  is  that  war  does  not  demand  the 
healthiest  and  bravest  of  a  nation's  womanhood 
to  be  destroyed  for  the  glory  of  the  men  who 
make  wars.  At  least  the  generation  to  come 
may  have  mothers  and  grandmothers  as  fine  as 
if  there  had  been  no  war  at  all;  and,  of  course, 
so  impartial  are  the  laws  of  heredity,  both  boys 
and  girls  to  come  profit  accordingly." 

Nevertheless  to  a  very  large  extent  the  War 

System  destroys  also  its  quota  of  women.     For 

as     Mrs.     Pethick-Lawrence    truthfully    says: 

"  Every  war  is  a  war  against  women.     In  the 

ii8 


WAR  SYSTEM  AND  WOMEN     119 

Boer  War,  counting  both  armies,  more  women 
perished  than  men.  In  Belgium  today  the 
deaths  of  women  and  children  far  outnumber 
those  of  men.  In  the  starvation  campaign  now 
(March,  1915)  threatened  by  Great  Britain 
and  Germany,  it  will  be  the  women  that  suffer, 
the  babies  first,  then  in  turn  the  other  non-com- 
batants. Only  soldiers  are  cared  for  in  war; 
women  have  no  shelter." 

Dr.  S.  Dumas  ^  of  Paris  has  shown  that  dur- 
ing the  wars  preceding  1872,  in  France,  Ger- 
many, Denmark  and  Austria,  the  death  rate 
among  the  people  at  home,  was  12  to  25  per 
cent,  greater  than  in  time  of  peace.  The  per- 
centage in  Austria,  for  example,  rose  from  2.92 
to  3.22  in  the  war  of  1866;  In  France,  in  that  of 
1 87 1,  from  3.28  to  4.06.  In  regions  actually 
desolated,  where  starvation  and  exposure  join 
with  suffering,  "  democratic  famine  working 
day  and  night,"  as  in  Belgium,  Servia,  Poland 
and  Macedonia  at  the  present  time,  the  death 
rate  of  non-combatants  is  terribly  increased. 

The  "  Barbaric  Drop  " 

Perhaps  the  most  shocking  feature  of  all  mili- 
tary service  is  the  "  barbaric  drop  "  from  all 
traditions  of  sexual  purity.  The  ideals  of 
womanhood  which  form  the  highest  incentive 
to  right  living  on  the  part  of  healthy  men  are 
lost  in  war.     This  condition  is  just  as  frequent 

^  Le  Mouvement  Pacifiste,  Berne,  March  30,  1912. 


120        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

in  modern  times  as  in  the  ages  more  remote  and 
barbarous,  and  the  personal  results  are  now 
the  more  horrible.  Rape  and  robbery  have  al- 
ways gone  with  fire  and  sword.  And  the  moral 
degradation  which  all  of  this  Involves  for  the 
average  soldier  (not  the  man  of  exceptional 
character)  is  one  of  the  most  terrible  of  war 
afflictions,  every  campaign  of  every  nation  leav- 
ing behind  to  a  greater  or  a  less  extent  a  dis- 
honored and  desecrated  womanhood.  At  the 
worst  a  soldier  only  dies,  and  death  on  the  bat- 
tlefield has  its  halo  of  glory.  To  a  virtuous 
woman  death  is  incomparably  less  terrible  than 
dishonor.  Moreover,  "  Let  any  man  Imagine, 
if  he  can,"  says  Millicent  Garrett  Fawcett, 
"  what  must  be  the  mental  and  moral  anguish 
of  women  condemned  to  bear  children  begotten 
In  rape  and  hatred  by  a  victorious  enemy. 
Such  women,  In  no  small  numbers,  are  facing 
their  shattered  lives  today." 

Womanhood  and  War 

"  It  is  especially  in  the  domain  of  war,"  says 
Olive  Schreiner  {JVomen  and  Labor)  ^  "that 
we,  the  bearers  of  men's  bodies,  who  supply  its 
most  valuable  munition,  who,  not  amid  the 
clamor  and  ardor  of  battle,  but  singly  and  alone, 
with  a  three-in-the-morning  courage  shed  our 
blood  and  face  death  that  the  battlefield  might 
have  Its  food,  more  precious  to  us  than  our 
hearts'  blood;  It  Is  we,  especially,  who.  In  the 


WAR  SYSTEM  AND  WOMEN     121 

domain  of  war  have  our  word  to  say,  a  word  no 
man  can  say  for  us.  It  is  our  intention  to  enter 
into  the  domain  of  war  and  to  labor  there  till 
In  the  course  of  generations  we  have  extin- 
guished it.  .  .  .  Only  a  woman  knows  what  a 
man  costs." 

Dr.  Anna  Garlin  Spencer  ^  discusses  effec- 
tively the  reasons  why  women  should  hate  war 
as  the  supreme  outrage  on  the  moral  nature  of 
humanity,  and  the  chief  enemy  of  womankind. 
She  says : 

"  Women  bear  the  chief  burden  of  personal 
care  of  the  young,  the  undeveloped,  the  frail 
and  sick,  the  aged,  the  feeble-minded,  the  so- 
cially incompetent.  They  have  had  to  bear  that 
burden  ever  since  social  sympathy  forbade  the 
strong  to  kill  the  weak  l3y  fiat  of  the  state. 
This  process  of  social  protection  of  the  incom- 
petent has  unquestionably  lowered  the  average 
standard  in  human  quality  where  it  has  worked 
unmodified  by  some  science  and  art  of  race  cul- 
ture. War  —  and  all  that  makes  for  war  — 
is  the  worst  hindrance  to  the  attempt  to  relieve 
women  of  this  overmastering  burden  of  admin- 
istering philanthropy,  and  to  give  her  time  and 
opportunity  for  her  organic  function  of  teach- 
ing and  developing  the  normal  and  super-ex- 
cellent specimens  of  the  race.  Not  only  does 
it  destroy  uselessly  all  the  common  wealth  of 
humanity  so  terribly  needed  for  projecting  and 

2  The  Independent. 


122        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

realizing  the  social  control  that  can  truly  ad- 
vance individual  life,  but  it  deliberately  and 
monstrously  aids  that  '  breeding  downward ' 
which  is  the  bane  of  civilization.   .  .   . 

"  It  is  because  of  women's  peculiar  functional 
relation  to  the  social  demand  for  race  integrity 
and  race  culture  that  enlightened  women  must 
hate  war  and  all  that  makes  for  war.  It  sinks 
under  waves  of  bestiality  and  passion  those 
ideals  on  which  respect  for  womanhood  and 
tender  regard  for  the  child  have  fibered  the  later 
progress  of  the  race." 

"  The  cause  of  woman  is  the  cause  of  peace," 
says  Novicow.  "  While  this  is  the  fundamen- 
tal fact,"  says  Havelock  Ellis  {The  Forces 
Warring  Against  IVar)^  "we  must  remember 
that  we  cannot  generalize  about  the  ideas  or 
the  feelings  of  a  whole  sex,  and  that  the  bio- 
logical traditions  of  women  have  been  associated 
with  a  primitive  period  when  they  were  the  de- 
lighted spectators  of  combats."  Steinmetz 
{Philosophie  des  Krieges),  remarking  that 
women  are  opposed  to  war  in  the  abstract,  adds: 
"  In  practice,  however,  it  happens  that  women 
regard  a  particular  war,  and  all  wars  are  par- 
ticular wars,  with  special  favor." 

This  fact,  observable  to  some  extent  in  all 
the  belligerent  countries  at  the  present  time, 
shows  merely  that  most  women,  like  most  men, 
are  swayed  by  the  feelings  of  the  group  in  which 
they  are  placed.     It  is  a  rare  man  or  woman 


WAR  SYSTEM  AND  WOMEN     123 

who  can  think  for  himself  in  times  of  great 
emotional  stress.  Those  who  have  done  so  in 
the  past,  if  remembered,  are  revered  as  heroes 
and  martyrs. 

"War  Brides  "« 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  efforts 
were  made  in  various  nations  (Germany,  Great 
Britain,  Austria,  Turkey)  to  "  guard  against  a 
falling  birthrate  "  by  offering  special  induce- 
ments to  marriage  before  leaving  for  the  front. 
This  course  has  as  a  result  the  dubious  advan- 
tage of  making  maids  into  widows  and  leaving 
them  to  bear  children  under  great  nervous  stress 
with  a  probable  heritage  of  weakness  and  mis- 
ery. I  am  told  that  in  Berlin,  in  early  August, 
19 14,  more  than  50,000  of  such  marriages  were 
celebrated.  A  similar  kind  of  war-mating  took 
place  in  many  other  military  centers. 

In  favor  of  this  arrangement  it  has  been 
maintained  in  England  that  for  many  men  al- 
ready engaged,  it  made  marriage  possible  and 
compatible  with  enlistment.  In  a  certain  num- 
ber of  cases,  this  was  no  doubt  true.  It  is  fur- 
ther urged  that  for  two  or  three  million  of 
women  in  Europe,  matrimony  must  otherwise 
be  wholly  impossible.  "  Better  a  day  of 
wedded  life  than  to  die  an  old  maid!  " 

The  avowed  purpose  of  the  movement,  how- 
ever, is  not  the  convenience  nor  the  happiness 

2  See  War  Brides,  a  drama  by  Marion  Craig  Wentworth. 


124        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

of  the  "  war  brides,"  but  a  plan  to  restore  the 
population,  certain  to  be  enormously  depleted 
by  war.  "  Give  us  children  or  we  perish;  this 
is  the  tragedy  of  national  existence,"  at  least 
under  the  modern  War  System.  Wholesale 
marriage,  however,  on  the  eve  of  mobilization, 
amid  popular  acclaim,  is  quite  out  of  the  nor- 
mal. It  has  In  It  an  element  of  the  repulsive, 
an  echo  of  the  days  when  womanhood  was 
chiefly  valued  as  furnishing  for  the  next  gen- 
eration the  raw  material  for  war. 

"  We  suppose,"  says  the  Lincoln  Journal, 
"  that  one  should  be  no  more  pained  at  the  en- 
listment of  women  for  the  speedy  reproduction 
of  their  country's  population  than  at  the  enlist- 
ment of  men  for  the  unnatural  destruction  of  a 
generation.  There  is  doubtless  all  the  differ- 
ence between  murder  and  war  that  there  Is 
between  prostitution  and  the  War  Mar- 
riage. ...  Is  It  more  cruel  to  furnish  cannon 
to  be  fed  than  to  furnish  men  to  feed  them? 
Are  not  men  a  munition  of  war?  " 

"  They  may  not  be  happy  children,"  says  the 
Chicago  Herald.  "  Many  will  never  see  their 
fathers,  or  seeing  them,  loathe  them  for  crippled 
incubuses  upon  self  and  nation.  The  mothers 
of  many  will  die  to  give  them  birth,  weak  with 
suspense  and  fear  and  want.  Many  will  go 
through  life  In  physical  and  mental  weakness. 
Many  will  live  and  die  In  sordid  Ignorance. 
But  they  will  be  children!     Say  what  you  will 


WAR  SYSTEM  AND  WOMEN      125 

of  national  honor,  patriotism,  all  the  rest !  The 
supreme  necessity  of  a  nation  is  children. 

"  Breed  before  you  die  !  It  is  our  future  that 
makes  up  those  battalions  and  regiments  of 
eager  men  so  soon  to  know  the  freezing  trench, 
the  death  rattle,  and  all  the  horrors  of  war. 
Leave  us  our  future  ere  ye  go.  We  might  have 
thought  of  this  before  we  drew  the  sword.  We 
did  not.  We  might  have  stopped  to  consider 
the  thousands  and  thousands  of  unborn  babes 
we  were  about  to  slay  before  we  entered  upon 
this  enterprise.     We  could  not  take  the  time." 

"  There  are  times,"  continues  the  same 
writer,  "  when  plain  speaking  is  best.  Noth- 
ing in  the  whole  record  of  blood  and  slaughter 
shows  the  terrific  effect  of  war  more  than  this 
reduction  of  the  marriage  tie,  at  the  instance  of 
the  state,  to  a  mere  hasty  plan  to  maintain  the 
population  —  than  this  official  approval  of  the 
debasement  of  the  high  and  holy  ideal  that  has 
grown  up  through  the  centuries." 

"  '  The  War  Brides  of  Europe  '  (again  the 
Lincoln  Journal)  reflects  merely  one  phase  of 
the  degenerative  effect  of  war.  What  the  na- 
tions gain  physically  by  such  process,  they  must 
lose  morally.  Men  cannot  be  bred  for  battle 
as  birds  for  the  cockpit  and  not  descend  to  the 
level  of  the  cockpit.  Women  cannot  let  them- 
selves be  used,  however  patriotically,  as  men- 
breeding  stock,  without  becoming  less  than 
women." 


126        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Excess  of  Women  After  War 

After  any  war,  and  under  the  War  System  in 
general,  the  number  of  women  must  necessarily 
exceed  the  number  of  men,  the  ratio  of  birth  in 
the  two  sexes  being  always  approximately 
equal,  while  the  waste  of  men  (except  in  deso- 
lated districts)  is  always  greater.  This  dis- 
parity leads  to  drudgery  as  the  lot  of  a  greatly 
increased  body  of  women.  It  produces  a  social 
confusion  which  may  be  summed  up  as  enforced 
but  not  legalized  polygamy,  measurable  by  the 
number  of  illegitimate  children  in  the  com- 
munity. Statistics  show  that  illegitimate  births 
are  always  most  numerous  in  states  most  militar- 
ized. 

Mr.  Arnold  Bennett  {Pictorial  Review, 
March  i,  19 15)  finds  ground  for  hope  in  these 
conditions.  "  The  mean  value  of  young  women 
will  rise  on  account  of  the  shortage  of  young 
men.  Those  who  are  left  will  naturally  pick 
the  finest  of  the  young  women,  having  many  to 
choose  from.  Competition  implies  the  survival 
of  the  fittest  and  that  implies  the  general  im- 
provement of  the  strain."  Hence,  he  argues, 
young  women  will  devote  special  energy  to  mak- 
ing themselves  attractive,  with  ultimate  advan- 
tage to  social  conditions  and  growing  elimination 
of  sex  hostility  from  political  life. 

Some  such  selection  may  arise  within  narrow 
circles,  but  it  is  not  evident  that  to  condemn 
great  numbers  of  women  to  celibate  drudgery 


WAR  SYSTEM  AND  WOMEN      127 

can  be  to  give  them  social  or  political  indepen- 
dence. The  plain  fact  Is  that  a  large  prepon- 
derance of  more  or  less  helpless  women 
unprotected  by  marriage  is  incompatible  with 
social  advancement  and  personal  freedom. 


VIII.     WAR  SELECTION  IN  THE 
ANCIENT  WORLD 

The  Fall  of  Rome 

"  The  human  harvest  was  bad!  '*  Thus  the 
historian  sums  up  the  conditions  in  Rome  in  the 
days  of  the  good  emperor,  Marcus  Aurelius. 
By  this  he  meant  that  while  population  and 
wealth  were  increasing,  manhood  had  failed. 
There  were  men  enough  in  the  streets,  men 
enough  in  the  camps,  menial  laborers  enough 
and  idlers  enough,  but  of  good  soldiers  there 
were  too  few.  For  the  business  of  the  state, 
which  in  those  days  was  mainly  war,  its  men 
were  inadequate. 

In  recognition  of  this  condition  we  touch 
again  the  overshadowing  fact  in  the  history  of 
Europe,  the  effect  of  "  military  selection  "  on 
the  human  breed. 

In  rapid  survey  of  the  evidence  brought  from 
history  one  must  paint  the  picture,  such  as  it  Is, 
with  a  broad  brush,  not  attempting  to  treat  ex- 
ceptions and  qualifications,  for  which  this  book 
has  no  space  and  concerning  which  records  yield 
no  data.  Such  exceptions,  if  fully  understood, 
would  only  prove  the  rule.  The  evil  effects  of 
military  selection  and  Its  associated  Influences 
128 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     129 

have  long  been  recognized  in  theory  by  certain 
students  of  Social  Evolution.  But  the  ideas 
derived  from  the  sane  application  of  our  knowl- 
edge of  Darwinism  to  history  are  even  now 
just  beginning  to  penetrate  the  current  literature 
of  war  and  peace.  In  public  affairs  most  na- 
tions have  followed  the  principle  of  opportu- 
nism, "  striking  while  the  iron  is  hot,"  without 
regard  to  future  results,  whether  of  financial 
exhaustion  or  of  race  impoverishment. 

The  recorded  history  of  Rome  begins  with 
small  and  vigorous  tribes  inhabiting  the  flanks 
of  the  Apennines  and  the  valleys  down  to  the 
sea,  and  blending  together  to  form  the  Roman 
republic.  They  were  men  of  courage  and  men 
of  action,  virile,  austere,  severe  and  dominant.^ 
They  were  men  who  *'  looked  on  none  as  their 
superior  and  none  as  their  inferior."  For  this 
reason,  Rome  was  long  a  republic.  Free-born 
men  control  their  own  destinies.  "  The  fault," 
says  Cassius,  "  is  not  in  our  stars,  but  in  our- 
selves that  we  are  underlings."  Thus  in  free- 
dom, when  Rome  was  small,  without  glory, 
without  riches,  without  colonies  and  without 
slaves,  she  laid  the  foundations  of  greatness. 

But  little  by  little  the  spirit  of  freedom  gave 
way  to  that  of  domination.  Conscious  of 
power,  men  sought  to  exercise  It,  not  on  them- 
selves but  on  one  another.     Little  by  little  this 

1  Firilis,  austerus,  severus,  dominans,  good  old  words  ap- 
plied by  Romans  to  themselves. 


130        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

meant  aggression,  suppression,  plunder,  strug- 
gle, glory  and  all  that  goes  with  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  of  war.  So  the  individuahty  in 
the  mass  was  lost  in  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
few.  Independence  was  swallowed  up  in  am- 
bition and  patriotism  came  to  have  a  new  mean- 
ing, being  transferred  from  hearth  and  home  to 
the  camp  and  the  army. 

In  the  subsequent  history  of  Rome,  we  have 
now  to  consider  only  a  single  factor,  the  "  re- 
versal of  selection."  In  Rome's  conquests,  Vir, 
the  real  man,  went  forth  to  battle  and  foreign 
invasion;  Homo,  the  human  being,  remained  on 
the  farm  and  in  the  workshop  and  begat  the 
new  generations.  "  Vir  gave  place  to  Homo," 
says  the  Latin  author.  Men  of  good  stock 
were  replaced  by  the  sons  of  slaves  and  camp- 
followers,  the  riff-raff  of  those  the  army  sucked 
in  but  could  not  use. 

The  Fall  of  Rome  was  due  not  to  luxury, 
effeminacy  or  corruption,  not  to  Nero's  or 
Caligula's  wickedness,  nor  to  the  futility  of  Con- 
stantine's  descendants.  It  began  at  Philippi, 
where  the  spirit  of  domination  overcame  the 
spirit  of  freedom.  It  was  forecast  still  earlier 
in  the  rise  of  consuls  and  triumvirs  incident  to 
the  thinning  out  of  the  sturdy  and  self-sufficient 
strains  who  brooked  no  arbitrary  rule.  While 
the  best  men  were  falling  in  war,  civil  or  foreign, 
or  remained  behind  in  far-away  colonies,  the 
stock  at  home  went  on  repeating  its  weakling 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD      131 

parentage.  A  condition  significant  in  Roman 
history  is  marked  by  the  gradual  swelHng  of  the 
mob,  with  the  rise  in  authority  of  the  Emperor 
who  was  the  mob's  exponent.  Increase  of  arbi- 
trary power  went  with  the  growing  weakness  of 
the  Romans  themselves.  Always  the  "  Em- 
peror "  serves  as  a  sort  of  historical  barometer 
by  which  to  measure  the  abasement  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  concentrated  power  of  Julius  Cassar, 
resting  on  his  own  tremendous  personality, 
showed  that  the  days  of  Cincinnatus  and  of 
Junius  Brutus  were  past.  The  strength  of 
Augustus  rested  likewise  in  personality.  The 
rising  authority  of  later  emperors  had  its  roots 
in  the  ineffectiveness  of  the  mob,  until  it  came  to 
pass  that  "  the  little  finger  of  Constantine  was 
thicker  than  the  loins  of  Augustus."  This  was 
due  not  to  Constantine's  force,  but  to  the  con- 
tinued reversal  of  selection  among  the  people 
over  whom  he  ruled.  The  Emperor,  no  longer 
the  strong  man  holding  In  check  all  lesser  men 
and  organizations,  became  the  creature  of  the 
mob;  and  "the  mob,  intoxicated  with  its  own 
work,  worshiped  him  as  divine."  Doubtless 
the  last  emperor,  Augustulus  Romulus,  before 
the  Goths  threw  him  into  the  scrap-heap  of  his- 
tory, was  regarded  by  the  mob  and  himself  as 
the  most  god-like  of  the  whole  succession. 

The  Romans  of  the  Republic  might  perhaps 
have  made  a  history  very  different.  Had  they 
held    aloof    from    world-conquering    schemes 


132        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Rome  might  have  remained  a  republic,  enduring 
even  down  to  our  day.  The  seeds  of  Rome's 
fall  lay  not  in  race  nor  in  form  of  government, 
nor  in  wealth  nor  in  senility,  but  in  the  influences 
by  which  the  best  men  were  cut  off  from  parent- 
hood, leaving  its  own  weaker  strains  and  strains 
of  lower  races  to  be  fathers  of  coming  genera- 
tions. 

"  The  Roman  Empire,"  says  Professor  See- 
ley,  "  perished  for  want  of  men."  Even  Julius 
Caesar  notes  the  dire  scarcity  of  men  (  Seiv^v 
6\iyav6poTriav)  ^  while  at  the  same  time  there  were 
people  enough.  The  population  steadily  grew; 
Rome  was  filling  up  like  an  overflowing  marsh. 
Men  of  a  certain  type  were  plenty,  but  self- 
reliant  farmers,  "  the  hardy  dwellers  on  the 
flanks  of  the  Apennines,"  men  of  the  early  Ro- 
man days,  these  were  fast  going,  and  with  the 
change  in  type  of  population  came  the  turn  in 
Roman  history. 

"  The  mainspring  of  the  Roman  army  for 
centuries  had  been  the  patient  strength  and 
courage,  capacity  for  enduring  hardships,  in- 
stinctive submission  to  military  discipline  of  the 
population  that  lined  the  Apennines." 

"  The  effect  of  the  wars  was  that  the  ranks 
of  the  small  farmers  were  decimated,  while  the 
number  of  slaves  who  did  not  serve  in  the  army 
multiplied,"  says  Professor  Bury.  Thus  "  Fir 
gave  place  to  Homo,"  thus  the  mob  filled  Rome 
and  the  mob-hero  rose  to  the  imperial  throne. 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     133 

No  wonder  that  Constantlne  seemed  greater 
than  Augustus.  No  wonder  that  "  if  Tiberius 
chastised  his  subjects  with  whips,  Valentinian 
chastised  them  with  scorpions."  ^ 

With  Marcus  Aurelius  and  the  Antonines 
came  a  "  period  of  sterility  and  barrenness  in 
human  beings."  Bounties  were  offered  for 
marriage.  Penalties  were  devised  against  race- 
suicide.  "  Marriage,"  says  Metellus,  "  is  a 
duty  which,  however  painful,  every  citizen 
ought  manfully  to  discharge."  Wars  were  con- 
ducted in  the  face  of  a  declining  birth-rate,  and 
the  decline  in  quality  and  quantity  in  the  human 
breed  engaged  very  early  the  attention  of  Ro- 
man statesmen.  Deficiencies  of  numbers  were 
made  up  by  immigration,  willing  or  enforced. 
Failure  in  quality  was  beyond  remedy. 

Says  Professor  Zumpt:  "Government  hav- 
ing assumed  godhead,  took  at  the  same  time  the 
appurtenances  of  it.  Officials  multiplied.  Sub- 
jects lost  their  rights.  Abject  fear  paralyzed 
the  people  and  those  that  ruled  were  intoxicated 
with  insolence  and  cruelty."  "  The  worst  gov- 
ernment is  that  which  is  most  worshipped  as  di- 
vine." "  The  Emperor  possessed  in  the  army 
an  overwhelming  force  over  which  citizens  had 
no  influence,  which  was  totally  deaf  to  reason  or 
eloquence,  which  had  no  patriotism  because  it 

2  The  point  of  this  is  that  the  cruel  Tiberius  was  less 
severe  on  the  Romans  of  his  day  than  was  the  relatively 
benevolent  Valentinian  on  his  decadent  people. 


134        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

had  no  country,  which  had  no  humanity  because 
it  had  no  domestic  ties."  "  There  runs  through 
Roman  literature  a  brigand's  and  barbarian's 
contempt  for  honest  industry."  "  Roman  civ- 
ihzation  was  not  a  creative  kind,  it  was  miHtary, 
that  is,  destructive." 

What  was  the  end  of  it  all?  The  nation 
bred  Romans  no  more.  To  cultivate  the  Ro- 
man fields  '^  whole  tribes  were  borrowed." 
The  man  with  quick  eye  and  strong  arm  gave 
place  to  the  slave,  the  scullion,  the  pariah,  whose 
lot  is  fixed  because  in  him  there  lies  no  power  to 
alter  it.  So  at  last  the  Roman  world,  devoid  of 
power  to  resist,  was  overwhelmed  by  the  swarm- 
ing Ostrogoths.  "  The  barbarian  settled  and 
peopled  the  empire  rather  than  conquered  it. 
It  was  the  weakness  of  war-worn  Rome  that 
gave  the  Germanic  races  their  first  opportu- 
nity." "  A  nation  is  like  a  bee,"  wisely  observes 
Bernard  Shaw,  "  as  it  stings  it  dies." 

Seeck's  Interpretation 

In  his  monumental  history  of  the  "  Downfall 
of  the  Ancient  World  "  {Der  Untergang  der 
Antiken  IFelt),  Dr.  Otto  Seeck  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Miinster  in  Westphalia  treats  in  detail 
the  causes  of  such  decline.  He  first  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  intellectual  stagnation  which  came 
over  the  Roman  Empire  about  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  Era.  This  manifested  itself  in 
all  fields  of  intellectual  activity.     No  new  idea 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     135 

of  any  importance  was  advanced  in  science  nor 
in  technical  and  political  studies.  In  the  realm 
of  Literature  and  Art  also  one  finds  a  complete 
lack  of  originality  and  a  tendency  to  imitate 
older  models.  All  this,  Seeck  asserts  was 
brought  about  by  the  continuous  "  rooting  out 
{*'  Ausrottung")  of  the  best  "  ^  through  war. 
Such  extermination  which  took  place  in 
Greece  as  well  as  in  Rome,  was  due  to  persist- 
ent internal  conflicts,  the  constant  murderous 
struggle  going  on  between  political  parties,  in 
which,  in  rapid  succession,  first  one  and  then  the 
other  was  victorious.  The  custom  of  the  vic- 
tors being  to  kill  and  banish  the  leaders  and  all 
prominent  men  in  the  defeated  party,  often  de- 
stroying their  children  as  well,  it  is  evident  that 
in  time  every  strain  distinguished  for  moral 
courage,  initiative  or  intellectual  strength  was 
exterminated.  By  such  a  systematic  killing  off 
of  men  of  initiative  and  brains,  the  intellectual 
level  of  a  nation  must  necessarily  be  lowered 
more  and  more."*      In  Rome  as  in  Greece,  ob- 

2 "  Die  Ausrottung  der  Besten,  die  jenen  schwacheren 
Volken  die  Vernichtung  brachte,  hat  die  starken  Germanen 
erst  befiihigt,  auf  den  Trummern  der  antiken  Welt  neue 
dauerende   Gemeinschaften   zu   errichten."     (Seeck.) 

*  The  history  of  Korea  reveals  much  the  same  condition. 
Three  hundred  years  ago  this  country  had  reached  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  civilization.  Its  conquest  by  Hideyoshi, 
Shogun  of  Japan,  was  followed  by  a  vigorous  reaction,  in 
which  the  Japanese  armies  were  flung  out  of  Korea  and  the 
Japanese  fleet  destroyed.  At  that  time  in  art  matters  at 
least,   the   Koreans   were  more   advancd   than   the   Japanese. 


136        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

serves  Seeck:  "A  wealth  of  force  of  spirit 
went  down  in  the  suicidal  wars."  "  In  Rome, 
Marius  and  Cinna  slew  the  aristocrats  by  hun- 
dreds and  thousands.  Sulla  destroyed  the  dem- 
ocrats, and  not  less  thoroughly.  Whatever  of 
strong  blood  survived  fell  as  an  offering  to  the 
proscription  of  the  Triumvirate."  "  The  Ro- 
mans had  less  of  spontaneous  force  to  lose  than 
the  Greeks.  Thus  desolation  came  sooner  to 
them.  Whoever  was  bold  enough  to  rise  polit- 
ically in  Rome  was  almost  without  exception 
thrown  to  the  ground.  Only  cowards  re- 
mained, and  from  their  blood  came  forward  the 
new  generations.^  Cowardice  showed  itself  in 
lack  of  originality  and  in  slavish  following  of 
masters  and  traditions." 

Certain  authors,  following  Varro,  have  main- 
tained that  Rome  died  a  "  natural  death,"  the 

The  Buddhist  temples  and  the  palaces  of  Kyoto  and  Nagoya 
are  modeled  after  similar  buildings  in  Seoul,  being,  in 
fact,  mostly  built  by  Korean  artisans. 

In  modern  times,  until  the  country  was  taken  over  by 
Japan,  the  government  of  Korea  v^'as  singularly  inert  and 
correspondingly  cruel,  while  the  people  though  individually 
fairly  intelligent  had  come  to  lose  all  initiative.  This  seems 
to  have  been  largely  due  to  a  reversal  of  selection  arising 
out  of  the  persistent  practice  on  the  part  of  the  rulers 
of  beheading  all  persons  opposed  to  their  policies.  Similar 
customs  widely  spread  in  earlier  times  in  Europe  as  well  as 
in  Asia,  must  have  been  a  large  factor  in  the  extirpation 
of  initiative.  The  old  English  habit  of  sending  "  to  the 
Tower  "  those  lords  or  ministers  the  crown  found  trouble- 
some was  another  form  of  the  same  costly  waste  of  ability 
from  which  in  ruder  times  no  nation  was  free. 

^  Author's  italics. 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     137 

normal  result  of  old  age.  It  is  mere  fancy  to 
suppose  that  nations  have  their  birth,  their  ma- 
turity and  their  decline  under  an  inexorable  law 
like  that  which  determines  the  life  history  of 
the  individual.  A  nation  is  a  body  of  living 
men.  It  may  be  broken  up  if  wrongly  led  or 
attacked  by  a  superior  force.  When  its  propor- 
tion of  men  of  initiative  or  character  is  reduced, 
its  future  will  necessarily  be  a  resultant  of  the 
forces  that  are  left. 

Dr.  Seeck  speaks  with  especial  scorn  of  the 
idea  that  Rome  died  of  "  old  age."  He  also 
repudiates  the  theory  that  her  fall  was  due  to  the 
corruption  of  luxury,  neglect  of  military  tactics 
or  over-diffusion  of  culture. 

"  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  mass  of  Romans 
suffered  from  over-culture.^  In  condemning 
the  sinful  luxury  of  wealthy  Romans  we  forget 
that  the  trade-lords  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries  were  scarcely  inferior  in  this  regard  to 
Lucullus  and  Apiclus,  their  waste  and  luxury  not 
constituting  the  slightest  check  to  the  advance  of 
the  nations  to  which  these  men  belonged.  The 
people  who  lived  in  luxury  in  Rome  were  scat- 
tered more  thinly  than  in  any  modern  state  of 
Europe.  The  masses  lived  at  all  times  more 
poorly  and  frugally  because  they  could  do  noth- 
ing else.     Can  we  conceive  that  a  war-force  of 

^ "  Damitsprechend  hat  man  das  Wort  '  Ueberkultur ' 
iiberhaupt  erfunden,  als  wenn  ein  2U  grosses  Maass  von 
Kultur  iiberhaupt  denkbar  ware." 


138        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

untold  millions  of  people  is  rendered  effeminate 
by  the  luxury  of  a  few  hundreds?  .  .  .  Too 
long  have  historians  looked  on  the  rich  and 
noble  as  marking  the  fate  of  the  world.  Half 
the  Roman  Empire  was  made  up  of  rough  bar- 
barians untouched  by  Greek  or  Roman  culture." 
"  Whatever  the  remote  and  ultimate  cause 
may  have  been,  the  immediate  cause  to  which  the 
fall  of  the  empire  can  be  traced  is  a  physical, 
not  a  moral  decay.  In  valor,  discipline  and  sci- 
ence the  Roman  armies  remained  what  they  had 
always  been,  and  the  peasant  emperors.of  Illyri- 
cum  were  worthy  successors  of  Cincinnatus  and 
Caius  Marius.  But  the  problem  was,  how  to 
replenish  those  armies.  Men  were  wanting. 
The  Empire  perished  for  want  of  men." 

Effects  of  Race  Crossing 

In  a  volume  entitled  Race  or  Mongrel,  pub- 
lished as  I  write  these  pages,  Dr.  Alfred  P. 
Schultz  of  New  York,  author  of  The  End  of 
Darzo'm'ism,  takes  essentially  the  same  series 
of  facts  as  to  the  fall  of  Rome  and  draws  from 
them  a  somewhat  different  conclusion.  In  his 
judgment  the  cause  was  due  to  "  bastardy,"  to 
the  mixing  of  Roman  blood  with  that  of  neigh- 
boring and  subjective  races.  To  my  mind, 
bastardy  was  the  result  and  not  the  cause  of 
Rome's  decline,  inferior  and  subject  races  hav- 
ing been  sucked  into  Rome  to  fill  the  vacuum  left 
as    the    Romans   themselves   perished    in   war. 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     139 

The  continuous  killing  of  the  best  left  room  for 
the  "  post-Roman  herd,"  who  once  sold  the  im- 
perial throne  at  auction  to  the  highest  bidder. 
As  the  Romans  vanished  through  warfare  at 
home  and  abroad,  came  an  inrush  of  foreign 
blood  from  all  regions  roundabout.  "  The  de- 
generation and  depravity  of  the  mongrels,"  as 
Schultz  graphically  states,  "  was  so  great  that 
they  deified  the  emperors.  And  many  of  the 
emperors  were  of  a  character  so  vile  that  their 
deification  proves  that  the  post-Roman  soul  must 
have  been  more  depraved  than  that  of  the  Egyp- 
tian mongrel,  who  deified  nothing  lower  than 
dogs,  cats,  crocodiles,  bugs  and  vegetables." 
It  must  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that  the 
Roman  race  was  never  a  pure  race.  It  was  a 
union  of  strong  elements  of  frontier  democratic 
peoples,  Sabines,  Umbrlans,  Sicilians,  Etrus- 
cans, Greeks  being  blended  In  republican  Rome. 
Whatever  the  origins,  the  v/orst  outlived  the 
best,  mingling  at  last  with  the  odds  and  ends  of 
Imperial  slavery,  the  "  Sewage  of  Races " 
("  cloaca  gentium  '*)  left  at  the  Fall. 

Gibbon  says:  "This  diminutive  stature  of 
mankind  was  daily  sinking  below  the  old  stand- 
ard and  the  Roman  world  was  indeed  peopled 
by  a  race  of  pygmies  when  the  fierce  giants  of 
the  North  broke  in  and  mended  the  puny  breed. 
They  restored  the  manly  spirit  of  freedom  and 
after  the  revolutions  of  ten  centuries,  freedom 
became  the  parent  of  taste  and  science." 


140        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

But  again,  the  redeemed  Italian  was  of  no 
purer  blood  than  the  post-Roman-Ostrogoth  an- 
cestry from  which  he  sprang.  The  "  puny 
Roman  "  of  the  days  of  Theodoric  owed  his  in- 
heritance to  the  cross  of  Roman  weaklings  with 
Roman  slaves.  He  was  not  weak  because  he 
was  "  mongrel  "  but  because  he  sprang  from 
bad  stock  on  both  sides.  The  Ostrogoth  and 
the  Lombard  who  tyrannized  over  him  brought 
in  a  great  strain  of  sterner  stuff,  followed  by 
crosses  with  captive  and  slave  such  as  always  ac- 
company conquest.  To  understand  the  fall  of 
Rome  one  must  consider  the  disastrous  effects 
of  crossings  of  this  sort.  Neither  can  one  over- 
look the  waste  of  war  which  made  them  inevit- 
able through  the  wholesale  influx  of  inferior 
tribes.  Neither  can  one  speak  of  the  Roman, 
the  Italian,  the  Spaniard,  the  French,  the  Rou- 
manian, nor  of  any  of  the  so-called  "  Latin  " 
peoples  as  representing  a  simple  pure  stock,  or 
as  being,  except  in  language,  direct  descendants 
of  those  ancient  Latins  who  constituted  the  Ro- 
man Republic.  The  failure  of  Rome  arose  not 
from  hybridization,  but  from  the  wretched 
quality  on  both  sides  of  its  mongrel  stock,  de- 
scendants of  Romans  unfit  for  war  and  of  base 
immigrants  that  had  filled  the  vacancies. 

"  The  Niobe  of  Nations,  there  she  stands, 
Crownless  and  childless  in  her  voiceless  woe; 
An  empty  urn  within  her  withered  hands, 
Whose  sacred  dust  was  scattered  long  ago !  " 

Byron. 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD      141 

Greece 

Once  Greece  led  the  world  in  intellectual  pur- 
suits, in  art,  in  poetry,  in  philosophy.  A  large 
and  vital  part  of  European  culture  is  rooted  di- 
rectly in  the  language  and  thought  of  Athens. 
The  most  beautiful  edifice  in  the  world  was  the 
Peace  Palace  of  the  Parthenon,  erected  by  Peri- 
cles, to  celebrate  the  end  of  Greece's  suicidal 
wars.  This  endured  2187  years,  to  be  wrecked 
at  last  (1687)  in  Turkish  hands  by  the  Chris- 
tian bombs  of  the  Venetian  Republic. 

But  the  glory  of  Greece  had  passed  away  long 
before  the  fall  of  the  Parthenon.  Its  cause  was 
the  one  cause  of  all  such  downfalls  —  the  extinc- 
tion of  strong  men  by  war.  At  the  best,  the 
civilization  of  Greece  was  built  on  slavery,  one 
freeman  to  ten  slaves.  And  when  the  freemen 
were  destroyed,  the  slaves,  an  original  Mediter- 
ranean stock,  overspread  the  territory  of  Hellas 
along  with  the  Bulgarians,  Albanians  and 
Vlachs,  barbarians  crowding  down  from  the 
north. 

The  Grecian  language  still  lives,  the  tongue 
of  a  spirited  and  rising  modern  people.  But 
the  Greeks  of  the  classic  period  —  the  Hellenes 
of  literature,  art  and  philosophy  —  will  never 
be  known  again.  "  Most  of  the  old  Greek 
race,"  says  Mr.  W.  H.  Ireland,  "  has  been 
swept  away,  and  the  country  is  now  inhabited  by 
persons  of  Slavonic  descent.  Indeed,  there  is  a 
strong  ground  for  the  statement  that  there  was 


142        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

more  of  the  old  heroic  blood  of  Hellas  in  the 
Turkish  army  of  Edhem  Pasha  than  in  the 
soldiers  of  King  George."  The  modern  Greek 
has  been  called  a  "  Byzantinized  Slav."  King 
George  himself  and  Constantlne  his  son  are  only 
aliens  placed  on  the  Grecian  throne  to  suit  the 
convenience  of  outer  powers,  being  in  fact  de- 
scendants of  tribes  which  to  the  ancient  Greeks 
were  merely  barbarians. 

It  is  maintained  that  "  the  modern  Greeks 
are  in  the  main  descendants  of  the  population 
that  Inhabited  Greece  in  the  earlier  centuries  of 
Byzantine  rule.  Owing  to  the  operation  of 
various  causes,  historical,  social  and  economic, 
that  population  was  composed  of  many  heter- 
ogeneous elements  and  represented  In  very  lim- 
ited degree  the  race  which  repulsed  the  Persians 
and  built  the  Parthenon.  The  internecine  con- 
flicts of  the  Greek  communities,  wars  with  for- 
eign powers,  and  the  deadly  struggles  of  factions 
In  the  various  cities  had  to  a  large  extent  oblit- 
erated the  old  race  of  free  citizens  by  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Roman  period.  The  extermina- 
tion of  the  Plata^ans  by  the  Spartans  and  of  the 
Melians  by  the  Athenians  during  the  Pelopon- 
neslan  War,  the  proscription  of  the  Athenian 
citizens  after  the  war,  the  massacre  of  the  Cor- 
cyrean  oligarchs  by  the  democratic  party,  the 
slaughter  of  the  Thebans  by  Alexander  and  of 
the  Corinthians  by  Mummies  are  among  the 
more    familiar    Instances    of   the    catastrophes 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     143 


which  overtook  the  civic  element  in  the  Greek 
cities.  The  void  can  only  have  been  filled  from 
the  ranks  of  the  metics  or  resident  aliens  and 
of  the  descendants  of  the  far  more  numerous 
slave  population.  In  the  classic  period  four- 
fifths  of  the  population  of  Attica  were  slaves;  of 
the  remainder,  half  were  metics.  In  100  A.  D. 
only  three  thousand  free  arm-bearing  men  were 
in  Greece."      (James  D.  Bourchier.) 

"  The  constant  little  struggles  of  the  Greeks 
among  themselves  made  no  great  showing  as  to 
numbers  compared  to  other  wars,  but  they  wiped 
out  the  most  valuable  people,  the  best  blood, 
the  most  promising  heredity  on  Earth.  This 
cost  the  world  more  than  the  killing  of  millions 
of  barbarians.  In  two  centuries  there  were 
born  under  the  shadow  of  the  Parthenon  more 
men  of  genius  than  the  Roman  Empire  had  in 
its  whole  existence.  Yet  this  empire  included 
all  the  civilized  world,  even  Greece  herself." 
(La  Pouge.) 

The  downfall  of  Greece,'^  like  that  of  Rome, 
has  been  ascribed  by  Schultz  to  the  crossing  of 
the  Greeks  with  the  barbaric  races  which  flocked 

'''  Certain  recent  writers  who  find  in  environment  the  causes 
of  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations,  ascribe  the  failure  of 
Greece  to  the  introduction  in  Athens  and  Sparta  of  the 
malaria-bearing  mosquito.  As  to  the  facts  in  question,  we 
have  little  evidence.  But  while  the  prevalence  of  malaria 
may  have  affected  the  general  activity  of  the  people,  it 
could  in  no  way  have  obliterated  the  mental  leadership 
which  made  the  strength  of  classic  Hellas,  nor  could  it 
have  injected  its  poison  into  the  stream  of  Greek  heredity. 


144        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

into  Hellas  from  every  side.  These  resident 
aliens,  or  metics,  steadily  increased  in  number 
as  the  free  Greeks  disappeared.  Selected 
slaves  or  helots  were  then  made  free  in  order  to 
furnish  fighting  men,  and  again  as  these  fell 
their  places  were  taken  by  immigrants. 

It  is  doubtless  true  at  this  day  that  "  no  race 
inhabits  Greece,"  and  the  main  difference  be- 
tween Greeks  and  other  Balkan  peoples  is  that, 
inhabiting  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  Hellas, 
they  speak  in  dialects  of  the  ancient  tongue. 
Environment,  except  through  selection  and 
segregation,  cannot  alter  race  inheritance  and 
the  modern  "  Greeks  "  have  not  been  changed 
by  it.  Schultz  observes:  "We  are  told  that 
the  Hellenes  owed  their  greatness  largely  to  the 
country  it  was  their  fortune  to  dwell  in.  To 
that  same  country,  with  the  same  wonderful 
coastline  and  harbors,  mountains  and  brooks, 
and  the  same  sun  of  Homer,  the  modern  Greeks 
owe  their  nothingness." 

In  other  words,  it  is  quite  true  that  the  Greece 
of  Pericles  owed  its  strength  to  Greek  blood,  not 
to  Hellenic  scenery.  When  all  the  good  Greek 
blood  was  spent  in  suicidal  wars,  only  slaves  and 
foreign-born  were  left.  "  'Tis  Greece,  but  liv- 
ing Greece  no  more."  ^ 

*  In  contrasting  a  new  race  with  the  old  —  as  the  modern 
Greeks  with  the  incomparable  Hellenes  —  we  must  not  be 
unjust  to  the  men  of  today  whose  limitations  are  evident, 
contrasted  with   a   race  we  know  mainly  by  its   finest  ex- 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     145 

Furthermore  we  do  not  know  that  even  the 
first  Hellenes  of  Mycenae  were  an  unmixed  race, 
or  that  any  unmixed  races  ever  rose  to  such 
prominence  as  to  command  the  world's  atten- 
tion. We  do  know  that  when  war  depletes  a 
nation  slaves  and  foreigners  come  in  to  fill  the 
vacuum,  and  that  the  decline  of  a  great  race  in 
history  has  always  been  accompanied  by  a  de- 
basing of  its  blood. 

Yet  out  of  this  decadence  natural  selection 
may  in  time  bring  forward  better  strains,  and 
with  normal  conditions  of  security  and  peace, 
nature  may  begin  again  her  work  of  recupera- 
tion. 

In  the  fall  of  Greece  we  have  another  count 
against  war,  scarcely  realized  until  the  facts  of 
Louvain  and  Mallnes,  of  Rheims  and  Ypres 
have  brought  it  again  so  vividly  before  us. 
War  respects  nothing,  while  the  human  soul  in- 
creasingly demands  veneration  for  its  own  noble 
and  beautiful  achievements.  As  I  write  this, 
there  rise  before  me  the  paintings  in  the  "  Neue 
Pinakothek "  at  Munich,  representing  the 
twenty-one  cities  of  Ancient  Greece,  from  Sparta 
to  Salamis,  from  Eleusis  to  Corinth,  not  as  they 

amples.  In  spite  of  poverty,  touchiness  and  vanity  char- 
acteristic of  the  modern  Greek,  there  is  good  stuff  in  him. 
He  is  frank,  hopeful,  enthusiastic.  The  mountain  Greek,  at 
least,  knows  the  value  of  freedom,  and  has  more  than  once 
put  up  a  brave  fight  for  it.  The  valleys  breed  subservi- 
ency, and  the  Greeks  of  Thessaly  are  said  to  be  less  inde- 
pendent than  the  mountain-born. 


146        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

were,  "  in  the  glory  which  was  Greece,"  not  as 
they  are  now,  largely  fishing  hamlets  by  the  blue 
w^gean  Sea,  but  as  ruined  arches  and  broken 
columns  half  hid  in  the  ashes  of  war,  wars 
which  blotted  out  Greece  from  world  history. 

"  Such  are  the  sights,  the  sorrows  fell, 
About  our  hearth  —  and  worse,  whereof  I  may  not  tell. 

But  all  the  wide  town  o'er, 
Each  home  that  sent  its  master  far  away 

From  Hellas'  shore. 
Feels  the  keen  thrill  of  heart,  the  pang  of  loss,  to-day. 

For,  truth  to  say, 
The  touch  of  bitter  death  is  manifold. 
Familiar  was  each  face,  and  dear  as  life. 

That  went  into  the  war. 
But  thither,  whence  a  warrior  went  of  old, 

Doth  naught  return  — 
Only  a  spear  and  sword,  and  ashes  in  an  urn. 

For  Ares,  lord  of  strife. 
Who  doth  the  swaying  scales  of  battle  hold. 
War's  money-changer,  giving  dust  for  gold. 

Sends  back,  to  hearts  that  held  them  dear, 
Scant  ashes  of  warriors,  wept  with  many  a  tear, 
Light  to  the  hand  but  heavy  to  the  soul; 
Yea,  fills  the  light  urn  full 

With  what  survived  the  flame  — 
Death's  dusty  measure  of  a  hero's  frame."  * 

Macedonia 

Few  districts  have  suffered  more  or  longer 
from  war-ravages  and  war  selection  than  Mace- 

^  From  the  chorus  to  Clytemnestra  in  the  A gamemnon  of 
^schylus.     (Translation  by  E.  D.  A.  Morshead.) 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     147 

donia,  a  region  which  in  recorded  history  has 
never  known  security  or  peace.  In  Macedonia, 
Aristotle  saw  the  light  and  unfortunately  Alex- 
ander also.  Originally  Greek  and  at  times  a 
center  of  Greek  culture,  it  has  been  overrun  in 
turn  by  Persians,  Romans,  Normans,  Turks, 
lonians,  Venetians,  Bulgarians,  Serbs  and  Ital- 
ians, and  by  Greeks,  Romans  and  Turks  at  in- 
termediate intervals.  It  is  now  arbitrarily 
divided  between  Greece,  Serbia  and  Bulgaria, 
while  of  its  population  (2,200,000  before  the 
wars)  fully  half  are  refugees  fleeing  across  the 
various  artificial  borders,  created  in  19 13  by  the 
ill-starred  Treaty  of  Bucharest,  with  whatever 
property  they  can  carry  on  their  backs.  Many 
of  them  become  outlaws,  for  in  the  Balkans  a 
"  brigand  "  is  simply  a  farmer  who  has  lost  his 
hold.  He  who  is  rich  and  prosperous  today 
may  have  to  take  to  the  road  tomorrow  on  a 
few  hours'  notice,  by  the  light  of  his  burning 
house.  In  the  fields  of  Macedonia  one  marks 
a  striking  sign  of  war's  latest  ravages.  Here 
and  there  three  poles  stand  tied  together  at  the 
top,  with  a  baby  swinging  from  them  just  out  of 
reach  of  goats  and  dogs.  Farther  on  appears 
a  woman  leading  a  bullock  or  a  buffalo,  some- 
times a  small  horse,  while  behind  her  another 
woman  guides  the  plow.  Rarely  a  man  to  be 
seen!  In  one  village,  Sigelovo,  visited  by  the 
writer,  not  a  man  is  left. 

How  great  the  human  waste  in  Macedonia  in 


148        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

the  years  from  PhilippI  to  Kilkis,  from  Aristotle 
to  Venizelos,  from  Alexander  to  King  Constan- 
tine !  Let  us  in  imagination  compare  the  men 
of  today,  those  who  survive  furtively  huddled 
in  dirty  villages  fired  by  each  passing  troop,  with 
those  who  might  have  been  but  were  lost  to  the 
world  before  they  were  born  through  War's  in- 
satiate selection  of  the  noble  Greeks  who  once 
peopled  Macedonia. 

•  ••••• 

Samarkand 

Samarkand,  according  to  Charles  R.  Crane, 
is  a  region  permanently  ruined  by  the  racial  rav- 
ages of  war.  Twelve  hundred  years  ago,  at 
about  the  time  Oxford  was  founded  and  the 
University  of  Paris  in  the  relatively  barbarous 
West,  it  was  the  center  of  Arabian  learning. 
Later  it  was  overrun  by  the  Mogul  Emperor 
Jenghiz  Khan,  to  the  destruction  of  its  Arabian 
culture.  Later  still  in  the  fifteenth  century  it 
rose  again  to  become  the  center  of  civilization 
for  the  Moguls.  The  Mogul  Empire  falling  In 
turn,  and  in  a  manner  precisely  comparable  to 
the  decline  of  Rome,  the  district  was  occupied 
by  Arabs,  Turks  and  Mongols  engaged  in  mu- 
tual extinction.  Then  came  the  Chinese  and 
after  them  the  Russians,  Samarkand's  present 
rulers.  Now  Its  once  great  University  boasts 
only  a  handful  of  students  with  a  peasant's  In- 


WAR  IN  ANCIENT  WORLD     149 
come  for  each  of  its  little  group  of  professors. 


In  Armenia,  the  brutal  and  often  repeated 
massacres,  with  the  scattering  of  the  population 
almost  as  the  Jews  were  scattered  after  the 
Conquest,  must  have  had  large  racial  effects. 
But  as  to  these  we  can  present  no  adequate  data. 


IX.     MILITARISM   AND  WAR   SELEC- 
TION IN  WESTERN  EUROPE 

France 

Europe  had  no  finer  human  stock  than  that 
of  France,  and  no  modern  people  has  suffered 
more  from  the  ravages  of  war  and  glory.  The 
Gauls  as  they  appear  in  early  history  were  a 
Celtic  race.  Conquest  made  them  Gallo- 
Roman.  Later,  especially  in  the  North  and 
East,  their  blood  was  strengthened  by  Teutonic 
strains, —  the  Normans  from  Scandinavia  and 
the  Franks  from  Central  Germany.  In  later 
days  a  large  influx  from  Germanic  Alsace  has 
made  German  names  common  in  French  society. 

Certain  effects  of  war  on  the  French  people 
have  been  already  considered  in  a  previous 
chapter.  Through  reversal  of  selection  by  war, 
the  men  of  France  lost  in  stature  and  the  na- 
tion in  initiative.  But  a  good  stock  possesses 
power  of  recuperation,  and  regenerative  proc- 
esses have  been  evident  in  France  for  the  last 
twenty  years.  Peace  and  security,  industry  and 
economy  enable  the  natural  forces  of  selection 
to  operate.  This  means  race  regeneration. 
The  nation  had  been  sorely  wounded  by  her  own 

150 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         151 

sons.  She  has  been  making  a  healthy  recovery.^ 
In  the  Wiertz  gallery  in  Brussels  is  a  striking 
painting  dating  from  the  time  of  Napoleon, 
called  "A  Scene  in  Hell"  (Une  Scene  dans 
I'Enfer) .  It  represents  the  great  marshal  with 
folded  arms  and  face  unmoved  descending 
slowly  to  the  land  of  the  shades.  Before  him 
filling  all  the  background  of  the  picture,  their 
faces  expressing  every  form  of  reproach,  are 
the  men  sent  to  death  before  their  time  by  his 
unbridled  ambition.  Four  millions  there  were 
in  all,  more  than  half  of  them  French.  And 
behind  the  legions  shown  or  hinted  at,  one  seems 
to  discern  the  millions  on  millions  who  might 

1 "  Land,  money,  tradition  and  prestige,"  says  Professor 
Albert  Leon  Guerard  {French  Civilization  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  1912),  "would  be  naught  if  the  people  had  lost 
its  soul.  Their  wealth  would  pass  into  stronger  hands,  and 
their  prestige  to  contempt.  Once,  about  twenty  years  ago, 
the  French  themselves  wondered  if  it  had  not  come  to  that. 
The  cry  of  a  decadence  was  raised  by  malevolent  rivals, 
by  sensationalists,  by  "  jesthetes  "  in  quest  of  a  new  pose,  by 
earnest  patriots  who  had  lost  their  star.  When  a  belated 
echo  of  this  reaches  us  now,  how  faint  and  strange  and  silly 
it  sounds!  For  the  one  great  asset  of  the  French  is  their 
indomitable  vitality.  Even  in  wasteful  conflict  one  cannot 
fail  to  admire  the  evidence  of  power.  In  the  twentieth 
century  as  ever  before  the  French  are  among  the  pioneers. 

"  I  do  not  see  France  as  a  goddess,  austere  and  remote. 
I  see  her  intensely  human,  stained  with  indecencies  and 
blasphemies,  scarred  with  innumerable  battles,  often  blinded 
and  stumbling  on  the  way,  but  fighting  on  undismayed,  for 
ideals  which  she  cannot  always  define.  An  old  nation?  A 
wounded  nation?  Perhaps,  but  her  mighty  heart  is  throb- 
bing with  unconquerable  life." 


152        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

have  been  and  are  not  —  the  huge  widening 
wedge  of  the  possible  descendants  of  those  who 
fell  in  battle,  youth  without  blemish  {''L' elite  de 
I' Europe")^  made  "flesh  for  the  cannon"  in 
the  rush  of  Napoleon's  great  campaigns. 

They  came  from  the  farm,  the  workshop,  the 
school,  men  from  eighteen  to  thirty-five  years  of 
age  at  first,  but  afterwards  the  older  and  the 
younger.  "  A  boy  will  stop  a  bullet  as  well  as  a 
man,"  said  Napoleon.  "  The  more  vigorous 
and  well-born  a  young  man  is,"  said  Professor 
Haeckel,  "  the  more  normally  constituted,  the 
greater  his  chance  to  be  slain  by  musket  or 
magazine,  the  rifled  cannon  and  other  similar 
engines  of  civilization."  "  Napoleon,"  says 
Seeck,  "  in  a  series  of  years  seized  all  the  youth 
of  high  stature  and  left  them  scattered  over 
many  battlefields,  so  that  the  French  people  who 
followed  them  are  mostly  of  smaller  stature. 
More  than  once  since  Napoleon's  time  has  the 
military  limit  been  lowered." 

In  the  career  of  Napoleon  campaign  fol- 
lowed campaign,  against  enemies,  against  neu- 
trals, against  friends.  Conscription  followed 
victory,  both  victory  and  conscription  debasing 
the  human  species.  Again  conscription  after 
conscription.  "  Let  them  die  with  arms  In 
their  hands.  Their  death  is  glorious,  and  it 
will  be  avenged.  You  can  always  fill  the  places 
of  soldiers."  "  A  great  soldier  like  me  doesn't 
care  a  tinker's  damn  for  the  lives  of  a  million 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         153 

men."  Still  more  conscription!  After  Wag- 
ram,  France  began  to  feel  her  weakness,  the 
"  Grand  Army "  being  no  longer  the  army 
which  had  fought  at  Ulm  and  Jena.  "  Raw 
conscripts  raised  before  their  time  and  hurriedly 
drafted  into  the  line  had  impaired  its  steadi- 
ness." ^ 

After  Moscow,  homeward  "  amidst  ever- 
deepening  misery  they  struggled  on,  until  of  the 
six  hundred  thousand  men  who  had  proudly 
crossed  the  Niemen  for  the  conquest  of  Rus- 
sia, only  twenty  thousand  famished,  frost-bitten, 
unarmed  specters  staggered  across  the  bridge 
of  Korno  in  the  middle  of  December."  "  De- 
spite the  loss  of  the  most  splendid  army  mar- 
shalled by  man,  Napoleon  abated  no  whit  of  his 
resolve  to  dominate  Germany  and  discipline 
Russia.  .  .  .  He  strained  every  effort  to  call 
the  youth  of  the  empire  to  arms  .  .  .  and  350,- 
000  conscripts  were  promised  by  the  Senate. 
The  mighty  swirl  of  the  Moscow  campaign 
sucked  150,000  lads  of  under  twenty  years  of 
age  into  the  devouring  vortex."  "  The  peas- 
antry gave  up  their  sons  as  food  for  cannon." 
But  "  many  were  appalled  at  the  frightful  drain 
on  the  nation's  strength."  "  In  less  than  half 
a  year  after  the  loss  of  half  a  million  men  a  new 
army  nearly  as  numerous  was  marshalled  under 
the   imperial   eagles.     But  the   majority  were 

2  This   quotation    and   those   that   immediately   follow   are 
from  the  History  of  Napoleon  I,  by  J.  H.  Rose. 


154        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

young,  untrained  troops,  and  it  was  remarked 
that  the  conscripts  born  in  the  year  of  Terror 
had  not  the  stamina  of  the  earher  levies.  Brave 
they  were,  superbly  brave,  and  the  emperor 
sought  by  every  means  to  breathe  into  them  his 
indomitable  spirit."  "  Truly  the  emperor 
could  make  boys  heroes,  but  he  could  never  re- 
pair the  losses  of  1 8 1 2."  "  Soldiers  were  want- 
ing, youths  were  dragged  forth."  "  To  fill  hell 
with  heroes," —  in  these  words  some  one  has 
summed  up  the  life-work  of  Napoleon.  "  J' at 
cent  mille  hommes  de  rente,"  "  my  income  is  a 
hundred  thousand  men,"  said  Napoleon.  But 
to  a  terrible  degree  he  lived  beyond  his  income. 
French  writers  have  been  frank  in  the  discus- 
sion of  national  deficiencies  and  mistakes.  They 
have  wished  to  conceal  nothing  from  France  and 
therefore  nothing  from  the  world.  Their  ad- 
missions have  been  exaggerated  by  unfriendly 
critics.  It  has  been  claimed  that  modern 
France,  with  the  other  Latin  nations,  is  a  "  de- 
cadent state,"  ^  that  she  has  passed  her  prime 
and  is  now  in  the  weakness  and  sterility  of  old 
age,  her  place  as  the  dominating  force  on  the 
continent  of  Europe  having  been  yielded  to  a 
younger  and  more  aggressive  power.  De- 
crepitude in  a  nation  is  due  not  to  age,  but 

2  The  French  people  "  have  sunk  to  so  low  a  level  in  all 
the  virtues  of  a  strong  and  proud  nation  that,  from  the 
military  standpoint,  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  doubtful  pleas- 
ure to  have  to  fight  such  a  people."  {Berliner  Post,  April 
21,  1913,  quoted  by  W.  H.  Dawson.) 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         155 

to  the  operations  of  war,  as  we  have  several 
times  insisted,  followed  by  the  loss  of  its  best 
strains  of  blood  and  their  replacement  by  re- 
cruiting from  immigrants  of  the  weaker  races. 
If  its  strong  strains  are  not  wholly  extirpated, 
peace  and  security  will  renew  its  youth. 
Though  France  has  suffered  grievously  from 
war,  as  a  nation  she  has  lost  little  from  immigra- 
tion and  not  much  from  emigration. 

Certain  features  of  French  life  have  been  in- 
dicated as  evidences  of  injury  from  reversal  of 
selection.  The  birth  rate  in  France  already  low 
has  been  steadily  falling.  This  is  apparently 
a  result  of  the  survival  of  the  cautious,  for  Na- 
poleon's dashing  grenadiers  could  hardly  be  im- 
agined to  limit  their  families  for  prudential  rea- 
sons. Indeed  the  French  in  Canada,  not  af- 
fected by  war,  are  notoriously  fecund.  Another 
evidence  of  the  survival  of  the  cautious  is  found 
in  the  relative  lack  of  business  enterprise  in 
France.  The  gold  hoarded  in  her  stockings  has 
been  used  mainly  for  international  loans,  rarely 
for  business  development,  foreign  loans  yield- 
ing a  higher  interest  with  less  personal  responsi- 
bility. And  the  absence  of  factory  towns  em- 
phasizes the  fall  in  the  birth-rate,  as  in  civilized 
nations  a  high  rate  of  increase  occurs  mainly  in 
industrial  centers. 

Edmond  Demolins  In  a  clever  book  asks : 
"  In  what  constitutes  the  superiority  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon?  "     He  finds  his  answer  in  the 


156        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

false  standards  of  French  life,  In  defects  of 
training  and  of  civic  and  personal  ideals.  The 
desire  for  seats  In  a  government  bureau  and  for 
similar  safe  places  of  routine  and  without  ini- 
tiative has  been  termed  In  Italy  "  Impiego- 
mania," —  the  "  craze  for  sitting  down."  The 
eagerness  to  secure  such  positions  is  said  to  be  a 
besetting  sin  of  the  youth  of  both  Italy  and 
France.  But  the  fault  may  be  due  to  over-cen- 
tralization of  government,  too  many  officials 
and  too  little  opportunity  in  the  provincial  cen- 
ters, rather  than  to  any  fault  in  the  nature  of 
the  individual  man.  Nationalization  of  effort, 
whether  through  socialism  or  through  "  efficient 
organization,"  must  contribute  to  the  spread  of 
*'  impiegomania." 

If  the  strictures  of  Demolins  be  true  in  any 
degree,  this  may  be  the  interpretation.  In- 
ferior standards  are  the  work  of  Inferior  men. 
Great  men  there  are  in  France,  and  these  have 
persistently  turned  the  nation's  face  toward  the 
light  since  Demohns'  book  was  written.  War's 
effect  has  been  to  rob  her  of  her  due  proportion 
of  leaders,  but  not  to  dilute  or  to  weaken  the 
message  of  those  who  survive.  The  evolution 
of  a  race  is  always  selective,  never  collective. 
Collective  evolution  among  men  or  beasts,  the 
movement  upward  or  downward  of  the  whole 
as  a  whole,  irrespective  of  training  or  selection, 
is  never  a  fact.  As  La  Pouge  has  said:  "  It 
exists  In  rhetoric,  not  in  truth  nor  in  history." 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         157 

Another  line  of  criticism  of  France  finds  its 
ablest  exponent  in  Dr.  Max  Nordau,  whose 
book  on  Degeneration  aroused  the  attention 
of  the  world  some  twenty  years  ago.  Nordau 
finds  abundant  evidences  of  degeneration  in  the 
art  and  literature  of  every  land,  all  forms  of 
eccentricity,  pessimism  and  perversity  being  re- 
garded as  such.  In  France,  such  evidences  he 
finds  peculiarly  conspicuous.  The  cause  of  this 
condition  he  ascribes  to  the  inherited  strain  of 
an  overwrought  civilization.  "  Fin  de  siecle," 
"  end  of  the  century,"  is  the  catch-phrase  ex- 
pressing the  weariness,  mental,  physical  and 
spiritual  of  a  race  "  tired  before  it  was  born." 
To  Nordau,  this  theory  adequately  explains  all 
eccentricities  of  French  literature,  art,  politics 
or  jurisprudence. 

But  in  fact  we  have  no  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
istence of  nerve-stress  inheritance.  In  any 
event,  the  peasantry  of  France  have  not  been 
subjected  to  it.  Their  life  is  hard,  but  not 
stressful;  and  they  suffer  more  from  monotony 
(nerve-sluggishness)  than  from  any  form  of  en- 
forced nerve-activity.  The  kind  of  degenera- 
tion Nordau  pictures  is  not  a  matter  of  hered- 
ity. When  not  simply  personal  eccentricity,  it 
is  a  phase  of  personal  decay.  It  finds  its  causes 
in  bad  habits,  bad  training,  bad  morals,  or  in 
the  desire  to  catch  public  attention  for  personal 
advantage.  It  has  no  permanence  in  the  blood 
of  the  race.     The  presence  on  the  Paris  boule- 


158        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

vards  of  eccentric  painters,  maudlin  musicians, 
abslnthlne  poets  and  sensation-mongers,  proves 
nothing  as  to  race  degeneracy.  When  the  fash- 
ion changes,  they  will  change  also.  The  "  end 
of  the  century  "  is  past  and  already  the  fad  of 
"  strenuous  life  "  is  blowing  them  away.  Any 
man  of  any  race  withers  in  an  atmosphere  of 
vice,  absinthe  and  opium.  The  presence  of 
such  an  atmosphere  may  be  a  disheartening 
symptom,  but  it  is  not  a  proof  of  deep-seated 
national  decline.  The  ghastliest  and  the  most 
depraved  of  Parisian  sensations  are  invented  to 
catch  the  jaded  fancy  of  gilded  youth  from 
across  the  sea. 

A  French  cartoon  more  than  a  century  old 
pictures  a  peasant  plowing  In  the  field,  hopeless 
and  dejected,  a  frilled  and  cynical  marquis  on 
his  back,  tapping  his  silver  snuff-box.  A  recent 
one  reveals  the  laborer  still  at  the  plow  and 
equally  hopeless.  The  marquis  is  gone,  but  in 
his  place  sits  a  soldier  armed  to  the  teeth,  while 
on  the  soldier's  back  rides  the  money-lender, 
colder  and  more  crushing  than  the  dainty  mar- 
quis, for  the  money-lender  is  the  visible  ex- 
ponent of  the  War-trader,  most  sinister  and 
most  burdensome  of  all,  purveyor  of  imple- 
ments of  destruction. 

For  more  than  forty  years  past  France  has 
lived  under  the  shadow  of  war.  The  loss  of 
Alsace-Lorraine  cut  a  deep  wound  in  French 
emotions  as  well  as  in  French  pride.     The  no- 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         159 

ble  attitude  of  the  lost  provinces  *  stimulated  the 
natural  determination  for  the  "  War  of 
Honor,"  the  *'  War  of  Revenge."  But  as  time 
went  on,  it  became  more  and  more  evident  that 
such  a  war  could  never  be  successful.  And 
after  the  collapse  of  the  inflated  militarism  of 
Boulanger,  and  in  view  of  the  sordid  failure 
of  military  honor  as  shown  in  the  "  Dreyfus 
Case,"  the  people  of  France  began  generally  to 
doubt  the  righteousness  as  well  as  the  wisdom 
of  war  against  Germany.  In  19 13,  the  influ- 
ential men  of  France  were  willing  to  meet  half 
way  the  "  Friedensfreunde  "  of  Germany.  The 
writer  was  present  at  Niirnberg  in  19 13,  at  a 
great  mass  meeting  in  which  the  Baron  D'Es- 
tournelles  de  Constant  spoke  warmly  and  elo- 
quently  for   international    friendship.     France 

*  The  protest  of  the  twenty-eight  deputies  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  delivered  by  M.  Grosjean,  before  the  French 
Assembly  at  Bordeaux  on  March  1871,  is  in  part  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  Delivered,  in  scorn  of  all  justice  and  by  an  odious 
abuse  of  force,  to  foreign  domination,  we  have  one  last 
duty  to  perform.  We  declare  once  for  all,  null  and  void 
an  agreement  which  disposes  of  us  without  our  consent. 
The  vindication  of  our  rights  rests  forever  open  to  all  and 
to  each  one  in  the  form  and  in  the  degree  his  conscience 
shall  assume.  At  the  moment  we  quit  this  hall,  the  su- 
preme thought  we  find  in  the  bottom  of  our  hearts  is  a 
thought  of  unutterable  attachment  to  the  country  from  which 
in  violence  we  are  torn.  Our  brothers  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  separated  from  this  moment  from  the  common 
family  will  preserve  towards  France,  absent  from  their 
hearthstones,  an  affection  faithful  to  the  day  when  we  shall 
again  return  to  take  our  place." 


i6o        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

was  becoming  ready  to  forgive  if  not  to  forget. 
But  this  the  Prussian  military  system  in  Alsace- 
Lorraine  would  not  permit.  They  had  left  the 
united  province  of  Elsass-Lothringen  without 
citizens'  rights  as  "  Reichsland "  or  Imperial 
territory,  it  being  an  "  Erobermig  "  or  conquest. 
They  had  subjected  it  to  the  process  of  "  Ent- 
welschiing  "  or  deforeignization,  by  means  of 
trivial  and  burdensome  "  Abwehrgesetze"  or 
special  statutes  directed  mainly  against  the  use 
of  the  French  language.  The  people  of  Al- 
sace-Lorraine, those  of  Germanic  and  French 
stock  alike,  could  not  forget.  And  for  this 
reason  France  could  not.  Had  the  united 
provinces  been  given  full  autonomy  within  the 
German  Empire  and  their  people  been  made 
full  citizens  instead  of  "  Deutsche  Ziveiter 
Classe,"  "  the  nightmare  of  Europe,"  °  the 
"  question  of  Alsace-Lorraine  "  would  have  dis- 
appeared long  ago  from  European  politics. 
The  persistent  menace  of  war  involved  in  these 
relations  is  the  main  reason  why  military  con- 
scription has  been  extended  and  rigidly  enforced 
in  France  in  direct  violation  of  the  principles  of 
personal  freedom  on  which  the  republic  rests.® 

^  La  cauchemar  de  I'Europe. 

^  This  contradiction  has  been  ably  set  forth  in  Marcel 
Sembat's  book  Faites  un  Rot  Sinon  faites  la  Pa'tx,  published 
not  long  ago. 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         i6i 

Spain 

The  Spain  of  today  is  not  the  Spain  of  1493 
to  whom  the  Pope  assigned  half  the  seas  of  the 
world.  Old  Spain  drooped  long  ago,  exhausted 
with  intolerance,  sea  power  and  empire.  Now 
that  modern  Spain  has  been  deprived  of  the  last 
vestige  of  Imperial  control,  she  is  slowly  re- 
cuperating on  a  foundation  of  industry  and 
economy. 

In  1630,  the  Augustinian  friar,  La  Puente, 
thus  wrote  of  the  fate  of  Spain:  "  Against  the 
credit  for  redeemed  souls  I  set  the  cost  of 
armadas  and  the  sacrifice  of  soldiers  and  friars 
sent  to  the  Philippines.  And  this  I  count  the 
chief  loss;  for  mines  give  silver,  and  forests 
give  timber,  but  only  Spain  gives  Spaniards,  and 
she  may  give  so  many  that  she  will  be  left  deso- 
late, and  constrained  to  bring  up  strangers' 
children  instead  of  her  own."  "  This  Is  Cas- 
tile," said  a  Spanish  knight;  "she  makes  men 
and  wastes  them."  "  This  sublime  and  terrible 
phrase  sums  up  Spanish  history."  '^ 

"  Everything  has  happened  that  could  hap- 
pen," says  Havelock  Ellis,  "  to  kill  out  the 
virile,  militant,  independent  elements  of  Span- 
ish manhood.®     War  alone,  if  sufficiently  pro- 

'  Captain  C.   G.  Calkins. 

8  In  this  connection,  Mr.  Ellis  extols  the  beauty,  grace 
and  spirit  of  the  Spanish  women  and  suggests  the  theory 
that  so  far  as  fenninine  traits  go,  there  has  been  no  reversal 
of  selection.  "  The  women  of  Spain,"  he  thinks,  "  are  on 
the  average  superior  to  the  men." 


i62        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

longed  and  severe,  suffices  to  deplete  the  nation 
of  its  most  vigorous  stocks.  '  The  warlike  na- 
tion of  today  ...  is  the  decadent  nation  of  to- 
morrow.' The  martial  ardor  and  success  of 
the  Spaniards  lasted  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years.  It  was  only  at  very  great  cost  that  the 
Romans  subdued  the  Iberians  and  down  to  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  Spaniards  were  great  sol- 
diers. The  struggle  in  the  Netherlands  wasted 
their  energies  and  then  finally  at  Rocroy,  in  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Spanish 
infantry  that  had  been  counted  the  finest  in  Eu- 
rope went  down  before  the  French,  and  the  mili- 
tary splendor  of  Spain  vanished  "  ( The  Soul  of 
Spain ) . 

It  is  a  question  whether  Spain  suffered  most 
from  the  scattering  of  her  strong  men  over  seas, 
from  her  perpetual  struggles  in  Europe  or  from 
the  Inquisition.  This  sinister  institution  was 
more  wasteful  and  more  cruel  in  Spain  than  any- 
where else,  leading  to  the  extinction  of  inde- 
pendent minds  and  of  virile  intellectuality. 

In  Spain  as  in  France,  the  continuance  of 
peace  with  the  cessation  of  the  loss  and  waste 
over  seas  is  bringing  a  financial  and  industrial 
recuperation,  which  must  be  slowly  followed  by 
a  physical  and  moral  advance.  It  is  noted  that 
before  the  war  with  the  United  States,  Spanish 
4  per  cent,  government  bonds  were  held  at  45 
per  cent.  They  have  now  touched  no.  It  is 
claimed  that  Spain  now  enjoys  "  an  ijntellectual 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         163 

and    artistic    renaissance    that    will    make    her 
memorable  when  her  heroes  are  forgotten." 

"  The  greatest  gain  ever  yet  won  for  the 
cause  of  peace,"  writes  Mr.  H.  W.  Nevinson,® 
"  was  the  refusal  of  the  Catalonian  reservists 
to  serve  in  the  war  against  the  Riff  mountaineers 
of  Morocco  in  July,  1909.  ...  So  Barcelona 
flared  to  heaven,  and  for  nearly  a  week  the  peo- 
ple held  the  vast  city.  I  have  seen  many  noble 
as  well  as  many  terrible  events,  but  none  more 
noble  or  of  finer  promise  than  the  sudden  upris- 
ing of  the  Catalan  people  against  a  dastardly 
and  inglorious  war,  waged  for  the  benefit  of  a 
few  speculators  in  Paris  and  Madrid." 

Paraguay- 
It  is  said  that  in  no  other  country  of  the 
world  has  the  devastation  of  war  in  modern 
times  been  so  complete  as  in  Paraguay.  As  to 
this,  Elisee  Reclus  observes:  "After  the  war 
in  Paraguay,  the  virile  population  disappeared 
almost  entirely,  and  there  remained  of  the  men 
only  the  invalid  and  infirm." 

In  1864,  the  usurper  Lopez,  dictator  of 
Paraguay,  Invaded  Brazil.  The  governments 
of  Brazil,  Uruguay  and  Argentina  united  to 
suppress  him.  After  five  years,  he  was  totally 
defeated  in  the  battle  of  Aquidaban.  In  re- 
treat, he  burnt  every  town,  destroying  as  well 
the  domestic  animals  and  most  of  the  people. 

°  Peace  and  War  in  the  Balance,  p.  47. 


164        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

"  There  is  nothing  more  dangerous  than  a  re- 
treating army."  Among  Lopez'  forces,  ac- 
cording to  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  boys 
of  twelve  years  were  included,  whole  regiments 
being  made  up  of  lads  under  16.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  the  population  of  Paraguay 
amounted  to  1,337,437.  It  fell  to  221,079 
(28,746  men,  106,254  women,  86,079  chil- 
dren). It  is  now  estimated  at  630,000.  Here 
in  a  small  area  has  occurred  a  drastic  case  of 
racial  ravage  without  parallel  since  the  time  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

Germany 

Germany  suffered  perhaps  scarcely  less  than 
France  from  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV  and  of  the 
two  Napoleons.  German  writers,  however, 
have  been  much  less  frank  than  the  French  and 
also  less  lucid  in  discussing  their  national  disa- 
bilities. They  have  given  but  scanty  records 
of  the  racial  waste  their  wars  have  involved. 
Moreover,  the  organization  of  modern  Ger- 
many, a  socialist  state  under  military  domina- 
tion, has  tended  to  minimize  the  visible  distinc- 
tions among  racial  strains.  Every  man  has  his 
place.  It  is  not  easy  to  fall  below  one's  class, 
correspondingly  difficult  to  rise.  Universal 
compulsory  education,  technical  as  well  as  aca- 
demic, saves  even  the  feeble  from  absolute  in- 
competence. The  three  duties  of  the  citizen, 
"  Soldat  sein;  Steuer  zahlen;  Mund  halten " 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         165 

(Be  a  soldier;  pay  taxes;  hold  your  tongue), 
are  simple  and  do  not  encourage  initiative. 
Universal  conscription  binds  the  individual  into 
subjection  to  the  central  power.  He  has  the 
choice  between  docile  acceptance  of  a  fate  not 
wholly  intolerable,  and  revolt  with  probable 
misery  or  death.  Forms  of  insurance  against 
poverty,  unemployment  or  old  age  guard  him 
against  total  failure.  The  difficulties  which  be- 
set the  common  man  in  trying  to  enter  the 
*'  learned  proletariat  "  of  the  Universities  or 
the  sublimated  caste  of  the  army  deter  all  but 
the  most  gifted  from  ambition  for  advancement. 
Only  real  genius  for  scholarship  or  for  money- 
getting  can  break  the  bonds  of  caste.  This  sys- 
tem minimizes  the  miseries  of  poverty,  while  at 
the  same  time  it  checks  initiative  in  the  mass  of 
the  people.  It  attempts  to  insure  prosperity 
through  surrender  of  liberty.  It  subordinates 
individual  freedom  to  a  prearranged  discipline 
of  efficiency.  This  has  culminated  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  army  and  navy.  To  those  who 
regard  the  dominance  of  militarism  as  a  survival 
of  savagery,  the  recrudescence  of  military  ideals 
in  Germany  seems  one  of  the  saddest  results  of 
modern  scientific  advance. ^'^ 

The  victory  over  France  in    1871   has  had 

io«Xo  glorify  the  state  is  to  glorify  war,  for  there  is  no 
collective  operation  which  can  be  so  effectively  achieved 
as  war,  and  none  which  more  conspicuously  illustrates  the 
sacrifice  of  the  individual  to  the  nation."     (Havelock  Ellis.) 


i66        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

the  effect  of  intensifying  the  military  spirit  of 
Germany,  and  of  making  its  extension  appear 
an  integral  part  of  the  nation's  commercial  and 
industrial  growth.  This  fact  operates  toward 
final  disaster,  for  whether  successful  or  not  in 
the  struggle  with  the  allied  powers,  the  aggre- 
gate result  will  be  of  the  nature  of  terrible  de- 
feat. When  the  record  is  summed  up  it  may 
appear  that  Germany  rather  than  France  is  the 
final  sufferer  from  the  Franco-Prussian  war  and 
the  "  blood  and  iron  "  policy  of  Bismarck  and 
his  successors. 

That  the  present  war  will  cut  deep  Into  the 
best  stock  of  Germany  no  one  can  doubt.  As  to 
the  effects  of  their  great  wars  of  the  past,  the 
most  important  studies  known  to  us  are  those 
of  Dr.  Seeck  and  Dr.  Karl  G.  Rendtorff.  Pro- 
fessor Rendtorff  ^^  furnishes  for  our  purpose 
the  results  of  his  researches  in  the  decline  of 
German  literature  following  the  wars  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  In  brief,  he  shows  that  the 
period  from  1170  to  1230  marks  a  climax  in 
early  German  culture.  The  thirteenth,  "  the 
greatest  of  centuries,"  saw  the  culmination  of 
early  poetry,  of  the  epic  of  chivalry,  of  military 
prowess,  of  imperial  greatness. 

The  period*  came  to  a  sudden  end  with  the 
downfall  of  Knighthood  and  the  consequent 
cessation  of  intellectual  life.  The  Knights  were 
the  pick  of  the  nation.     Knighthood  was,   in 

11  See  Appendix  H. 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         167 

some  degree,  a  democratic  institution  open  to 
any  one,  even  a  serf  who  distinguished  himself 
by  physical  courage  or  by  mental  power.  Thou- 
sands of  Knights  fell  in  the  bloody  wars  waged 
by  the  Hohenstaufens  in  Italy,  slain  in  battle, 
yielding  to  disease  and  poison.  Thousands 
more  died  in  the  Crusades,  through  epidemics 
in  the  ports  and  battles  in  Palestine.  Border 
warfare  existed  everywhere,  taking  its  toll, 
while  many  of  the  finest  minds  escaped  to  the 
shelter  of  the  Church.  In  all  these  episodes, 
a  "  survival  of  the  fittest  "  was  impossible.  The 
inevitable  result  of  the  destruction  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  physical  leadership  of  the  nation 
was  the  mental  decay  of  which  the  most  glar- 
ing evidence  is  found  in  the  contemporaneous 
decline  of  German  poetry.  Later,  in  the  rise 
of  the  Burghers,  appeared  new  life,  a  literature 
without  imagination  or  originality,  but  to  be 
later  followed  by  the  great  creative  work  of 
architects,  sculptors  and  painters. 

It  is  apparent  that  organized  warfare,  prop- 
erly a  conflict  of  soldier  with  soldier,  has  the 
final  effect  of  minimizing  the  very  qualities  it 
demands.  A  massacre  differs  from  war  in  that 
its  operations  are  not  confined  to  soldiers.  It 
involves  old  and  young,  sparing  neither  age  nor 
sex.  Only  those  escape  who  are  vigorous 
enough  to  run  away  and  to  endure  starvation 
and  exposure.     In  the  Thirty  Years'  War  of 


i68        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

the  seventeenth  century,  a  continuous  massacre, 
the  population  of  Germany  was  reduced  from 
about  sixteen  millions  to  six  millions. 

It  is  claimed  by  some  writers,  notably  by 
Seeck  and  Ammon,  that  the  slaughter,  however 
terrible  from  the  standpoint  of  humanity,  caused 
no  injury  to  the  quality  of  the  German  race. 
Seeck  insists  that  this  is  indeed  the  fact.  Ac- 
cording to  him,  in  massacres,  more  weak  than 
strong  are  killed  and  consequently,  while  the 
numbers  are  greatly  reduced,  the  average  phys- 
ical and  intellectual  strength  of  the  nation  is 
thereby  rather  enhanced:  ^^ 

To  quote  from  Seeck:  "A  systematic  ex- 
termination of  exceptional  people,  such  as  we 
find  was  carried  out  in  Greece  and  Rome,  must 
produce  a  race  of  cowardly  and  mediocre  men; 
on  the  other  hand,  when  a  terrible  war  sweeps 
over  a  nation,  indiscriminately  killing  thousands 
upon  thousands,  we  may  expect  the  opposite 
result.  .  .  .  For  if  out  of  every  one  hundred 
thousand  strong  men  eighty  thousand  were 
killed,  surely  out  of  every  one  hundred  thou- 
sand weaklings,  at  least  ninety  thousand  or  per- 
haps   ninety-five    thousand    were   killed,"     He 

12  Once  after  a  great  drought  in  Australia,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  sheep  died.  Sheep  owners  naturally  pre- 
served the  most  valuable  individuals  and  the  average  yield 
of  vyool  in  the  next  generation  is  said  to  have  increased  by 
one-third.  This  was  an  example  of  drastic  selection,  and 
something  like  this  may  have  taken  place  in  the  Thirty 
Years'  War. 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         169 

cites  a  number  of  examples  to  prove  his  theory 
and  claims  that  usually  a  century  or  so  after  a 
calamity  such  as  this,  the  nation  bears  its  finest 
intellectual  fruit.  He  points  to  Spain  which, 
during  a  period  of  peace  lasting  for  more  than 
fifteen  hundred  years,  furnished  nothing  valua- 
ble in  art  or  science,  but  which,  at  the  time  of 
Cervantes  and  Velasquez,  produced  a  genera- 
tion of  heroes,  exactly  a  hundred  years  after 
a  succession  of  terrible  civil  wars  and  massacres 
had  swept  over  the  country.  Germany  lost 
three-fourths  of  her  population  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  the  Netherlands  suffered  a 
similar  fate  during  the  Wars  of  Liberation, 
England  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  and 
France  during  the  War  of  the  Huguenots.  But 
a  century  after  the  worst  slaughters,  Goethe 
and  Kant  were  born  in  Germany,  Shakespeare 
and  Bacon  in  England,  Moliere  and  Bayle  in 
France,  while  Grotius  and  Rembrandt  appeared 
in  Holland  even  before  a  century  had  passed. 
As  further  proof  that  a  great  civil  catastrophe 
acts  beneficially,  he  cites  Northern  Italy,  which 
towards  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  again 
and  again  the  scene  of  massacres  which  left 
Southern  Italy  untouched;  and  yet  it  was  North- 
ern Italy  which  gave  the  Renaissance  to  the 
world  while  the  southern  districts  have  hardly 
done  anything  at  all  for  the  glory  of  the  na- 
tion.^^     Finally  he  asserts  that  among  the  an- 

13  Seeck  here  seems  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the  people 


170        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

cient  Germans  when  individual  tendencies  were 
too  strong  to  permit  the  founding  of  a  state,  the 
extermination  of  the  best,  that  is  of  the  strong- 
est personalities,  really  was  necessary  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  any  government  able  to  hold  its 
own  against  its  own  citizens. 

Even  if  correct,  the  facts  would  not  extenu- 
ate massacre,  the  most  revolting  and  debasing 
of  all  forms  of  war,  and  it  is  incredible  that  the 
birth  of  great  men  like  Shakespeare  and  Goethe 
is  dependent  on  the  killing  of  a  multitude  of 
weaker  ones.  Moreover,  the  details  of  such 
history  are  very  imperfectly  known.  We  have 
little  that  can  be  spoken  of  as  statistics.  Chris- 
topherus  Grimmelshausen's  story  of  ^'  Sim- 
plicius  Simplicissimus,"  ^^  the  most  elaborate  of 
these  records,  is  one  long  tale  of  debauchery 
and  horror.  The  ancient  "  Chronicles  of 
Thann  "  relate  something  of  how  upper  Alsace 
was  ravaged.  There  towns  were  destroyed 
never  to  be  rebuilt.  In  one  commune,  there 
was  not  for  twelve  years  a  wedding,  nor  for 
fifteen  a  baptism.  "  So  often  as  the  Swedes 
gave  battle  to  the  Imperialists,  so  often  did  the 
Imperialists  make  war  on  the  Swedes.  It  was 
an  endless  massacre." 

The  records  of  19 15  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  scenes  not  unlike  those  of  the  Thirty  Years' 

of   Naples   and    Sicily  were   of   a   different   and   much   less 
virile    stock   than    the    Florentines    and    Lombards. 
^*  See  Appendix  G  for  a  paragraph  as  an  example. 


IN  WESTERN  EUROPE         171 

War  are  again  transpiring  in  Miihlhausen,  Alt- 
kirch  and  even  in  Thann  itself.  It  appears  that 
the  inhabitants  in  that  region  have  been  largely 
removed  from  the  scene  of  war.  This  has 
meant  the  hideous  winter  misery  of  the  "  recon- 
centrado  "  camp  similar  to  those  established  not 
long  ago  in  Cuba,  and  later  in  South  Africa,  an 
institution  which  stirred  the  disgust  of  the  civil- 
ized world. 

Dr.  Rendtorff  does  not  accept  the  views  of 
Dr.  Seeck  that  massacre  leaves  no  racial  injury, 
provided  that  the  survivors  are  numerous 
enough  to  continue  the  race.  In  his  judgment, 
general  mediocrity  follows  even  those  slaugh- 
ters which  make  no  distinction  of  age,  strength 
or  sex. 

"  In  the  period  of  savagery,"  observes  Novi- 
cow,  "  war  between  tribes  was  without  pity. 
The  victors  destroyed  the  conquered  to  the  last 
man,  then  married  the  women.  To  a  certain 
degree,  the  result  was  favorable  to  the  race, 
but  on  this  condition  that  no  one  among  the  con- 
querors was  killed.  This  evidently  was  never 
the  case;  hence,  after  any  battle,  the  number  of 
fine  men  who  might  have  wives  was  always  re- 
duced. Here  again  war  produces  a  reversal  of 
selection.  .  .  .  The  pretended  benefit  of  war, 
even  in  savagery,  disappears  wholly  with  the  ad- 
vent of  civilization." 


X.     MILITARISM    AND    WAR    SELEC- 
TION IN  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

Cost  of  Empire 

Not  long  ago,  in  England,  a  parliamentary 
commission  was  set  to  inquire  into  the  fact  of 
"  national  deterioration."  Of  this  there  were 
various  sorts  of  evidence.  The  yeomanry  were 
disappearing.  The  slums  of  London,  Man- 
chester, Liverpool,  Birmingham,  and  Sheffield, 
were  centers  of  sweat-shops  and  child  labor,  of 
wasting  over-work,  of  infant  mortality,  of  mal- 
nutrition, of  sodden  drunkenness  with  helpless 
old  age.  And  in  the  higher  classes,  one  heard 
of  "  flannelled  oafs  "  and  heedless  sportsmen 
to  whom  a  cricket  match  was  of  more  worth 
than  the  conservation  of  empire.  Much  of 
this  was  complacent  self-criticism,  a  favorite 
amusement  with  the  literary  classes  of  England. 
Some  of  it  had  the  political  purpose  of  discred- 
iting the  government,  but  behind  it  all  rests  a 
certain  neglected  residuum  of  truth.  For 
Great  Britain  has  paid  in  full  the  costs  of  Em- 
pire. 

In  the  Norse  mythology,  it  was  the  MItgard 
serpent  which  reached  around  the  world,  swal- 
lowed Its  own  tail  and  held  the  earth  together. 
England  has  been  the  MItgard-serpent  of  his- 
172 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  173 

tory.  She  has  made  this  in  a  sense  a  British 
world.  Her  youth  have  gone  into  all  regions 
where  free  men  can  live.  Everywhere  they 
have  built  up  free  institutions  held  together  by 
the  British  cement  of  cooperation  and  compro- 
mise. England  carried  her  "  Pax  Britan- 
nica,"  with  its  semblance  of  order  and  decency, 
to  barbarous  lands,  mixing  with  it  enough  of 
freedom  to  give  permanence  to  her  rule.^  She 
has  made  it  possible  for  Englishmen  to  trade 
and  to  pray  with  savages.  *'  What  does  he 
know  of  England,  who  only  England  knows?  " 
For  the  activities  of  the  Greater  Britain  of 
whom  we  of  America  form  an  integral  part,  out- 
weigh those  confined  to  the  little  island  from 
which  the  British  people  set  forth  to  inherit  the 
Earth. 

iThc  other  and  sordid  side  of  Military  Imperialism  is 
thus  touched  by  Lord  Morley,  referring  to  the  occupation  of 
Chitral,    in    Northern    India    in    1895: 

"  First,  you  push  on  into  territories  where  you  have  no 
business  to  be,  and  where  you  had  promised  not  to  go; 
secondly,  your  intrusion  provokes  resentment,  and,  in  these 
wild  countries,  resentment  means  resistance;  thirdly,  you 
instantly  cry  out  that  the  people  are  rebellious  and  that 
their  act  is  rebellion  (this  in  spite  of  your  own  assurance 
that  you  have  no  intention  of  setting  up  a  permanent 
sovereignty  over  them)  ;  fourthly,  you  send  a  force  to  stamp 
out  the  rebellion;  and  fifthly,  having  spread  bloodshed,  con- 
fusion and  anarchy,  you  declare,  with  hands  uplifted  to  the 
heavens  that  moral  reasons  force  you  to  stay,  for  if  you 
were  to  leave,  this  territory  would  be  left  in  a  condition 
which  no  civilized  power  could  contemplate  with  equanimity 
or  with  composure.  These  are  the  five  stages  in  the  For- 
ward Rake's  progress." 


174        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

What  has  it  all  cost?  For  every  great  race 
sacrifice  takes  toll  in  race  exhaustion.  The  loss 
will  not  appear  in  the  decline  in  ability  of  the 
statesmen  and  scholars  who  remain.  It  will 
show  itself  in  the  relative  fewness  of  strong  men 
with  a  proportionate  increase  of  weaklings  and 
wastrels. 

Much  of  the  force  of  England  has  gone  out 
to  America  and  to  her  self-governing  common- 
wealths, the  forceful  young  democracies  still 
proud  of  British  traditions,  even  while  escap- 
ing from  the  worst  of  these,  the  legalization  of 
privilege.  But  a  man  is  a  man  wherever  he 
may  live,  and  the  occupation  of  Canada,  Aus- 
tralia, New  Zealand  and  South  Africa  has  been 
a  source  of  continued  strength  to  the  mother 
country. 

With  India  the  case  is  less  certain.  Men 
have  asked,  "  What  has  Britain  done  for  In- 
dia "  ?  We  may  admit  that  she  has  done  much, 
and  her  work,  improving  with  experience,  grows 
more  successful  with  the  lapse  of  time.  But 
one  may  rather  ask:  "What  has  India  done 
for  Britain?"  The  answer  to  this  is  not  so 
clear  and  much  loss  as  well  as  gain  must  enter 
into  the  calculation.  India  has  enriched  Eng- 
land —  that  small  part  of  England  which  is 
engaged  in  over-seas  trade.  The  men  who 
have  gained,  like  the  Sassoons  of  the  opium 
trade  for  example,  are  not  as  a  rule  those  who 
share  their  fortunes  with  the  people  who  have 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  175 

been  taxed  to  make  such  fortunes  possible.  In- 
dia has  furnished  employment  for  thousands  of 
young  Englishmen  ("  outdoor  relief  for  sons  of 
good  families")  and  it  has  opened  graves  for 
thousands  of  British  yeomen  and  British  gen- 
tlemen, men  of  spirit  whom  Britain  could  ill  af- 
ford to  spare.  A  returning  officer  once  said  to 
me,  "  I  have  seen  men  who  might  have  been 
makers  of  Empire,  die  like  flies  in  India." 

Says  Franklin:  "The  profits  of  no  trade 
can  ever  be  equal  to  the  expense  of  compelling 
it  by  force  of  armies."  But  the  profits  of  the 
trade  obtained  through  compulsion  go  to  the 
undeserving  few.  The  cost  of  compulsion  in 
blood  and  in  gold  falls  on  the  body  of  the  na- 
tion. "  Regarded  as  a  national  investment  Im- 
perialism does  not  pay.  Regarded  as  a  means 
of  assuring  unearned  incomes  to  the  governing 
class.  It  emphatically  does  pay.  It  is  not  true 
that  trade  follows  the  flag.  It  is  true  that  the 
flag  follows  investments."  (Henry  Noel 
Brailsford.) 

Can  we  measure  the  cost  of  British  Imperial- 
ism? 

"  There's  a  widow  in  sleepy  Chester 
Who  mourns  for  her  only  son ; 
There's  a  grave  by  the  Pabeng  River, — 
A  grave  which  the  Burmans  shun." 

To  know  why  Chester  is  sleepy,  let  us  ask 
her  red  sandstone  cathedral,  "  What  of  your 


176        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

dead?  "  The  long  array  of  bronze  tablets  tells 
the  story.  They  bear  the  names  of  the  fine- 
spirited  yeomanry  whose  lives  Cheshire  has 
spent  for  empire.  In  almost  every  English 
cathedral  and  in  almost  every  parish  church  in 
England  and  Scotland  we  read  the  same  story. 
Britain  has  exchanged  her  young  men  in  India 
for  bronze  tablets  at  home.  Says  Alfred 
Noyes,  speaking  of  England: 

"  It  is  only  my  dead  that  I  count, 

She  said  and  she  says  to-day." 

Here  are  names  of  sturdy  farmers,  of  gentle- 
men's sons  from  Eton  and  Rugby,  from  Har- 
row and  Winchester,  of  scholars  from  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  all  lost  in  some  far-off  war. 
Their  bodies  rest  m  India,  in  Burmah,  in  Af- 
ghanistan, in  the  Transvaal.  *'  At  home,"  they 
are  remembered.^     What  would  have  been  the 

2  The  following  is  a  record  of  tablets  in  certain  English 
cathedrals  recently  visited: 

Winchester  in  Hampshire.  1400  names,  500  not  named, 
recorded  by  regiments. 

Salisbury  in  Wiltshire.  115  names  of  men  killed  in  South 
Africa,  204  of  the  Imperial  yeomanry,  only  the  officers 
named. 

Exeter  in  Devon.  Names  of  15  officers,  448  privates  died 
at  Lucknow  and  Cawnpore ;  names  of  47  women  and  53  chil- 
dren massacred  at  Cawnpore;  names  of  672  killed  in  Boer 
War,  140  in  Afghan  campaign,  5  in  Bengal,  48  in  "India"; 
73  "  died  of  climate."  Others  killed  in  the  Crimea  not 
named  or  numbered. 

Taunton  Church  in  Somerset.  144  in  Burmese  War;  Afri- 
can War  200;  44  in  Ava;  425  in  South  Africa;  i  in  Nigeria. 
"  The  War  is  the  Lord's." 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  177 

effect  on  England  If  all  of  these  and  their  po- 
tential descendants  could  be  numbered  among 
her  sons  today? 

Says  Havelock  Ellis :  "  The  reckless  Eng- 
lishmen, who  boldly  sailed  out  from  their  little 
island  to  fight  the  Spanish  Armada,  were  long 
since  exterminated;  and  an  admirably  prudent 
and  cautious  race  has  been  left  alive." 

"  We  have  fed  our  sea  for  a  thousand  years, 
And  she  calls  us,  still  unfed  ; 
Though  there's  never  a  wave  of  all  her  waves, 
But  marks  our  English  dead. 

We've  strawed  our  best  to  the  waves'  unrest, 
To  the  shark  and  the  sheering  gull. 
If  blood  be  the  price  of  Admiralty, 
Lord  God,  we  ha'  paid  it  in  full!  " 

"  We  admit,"  says  Prof.  J.  Arthur  Thomson, 
"  that  wars  have  been  necessary  and  righteous 
—  especially  necessary,  and  that  they  may  be 

Gloucester  in  Gloucestershire.    500  in  Sutlej ;  75  in  Soudan. 

Lichfield  in  Staffordshire.  Numerous  officers;  86  men 
in  South  Africa,  66  in  Dongola,   500  others. 

Lincoln  in  Lincolnshire.  44  in  Nile;  76  in  Sutlej  and 
Punjab,  45   at  Mooltan,   80  in  India. 

Ely   in   Cambridgeshire,   one  tablet  only. 

Peterborough,  96  in  Boer  War. 

All  this  represents  a  total  of  6101  killed,  mainly  in  the 
wars  in  India  and  South  Africa.  The  total  number  of  such 
cathedral  memorials  must  be  about  16,000.  There  are  15,000 
parish  churches  in  Great  Britain.  These  also  contain  many 
tablets,  perhaps  60,000  names  in  all. 


lyS        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

so  still,  but  this  opinion  does  not  affect  the  fact 
that  prolonged  war  in  which  a  nation  takes  part 
is  bound  to  impoverish  the  breed,  since  the  char- 
acter of  the  breed  always  depends  on  the  men 
who  are  left.  The  only  thing  a  nation  dies 
of  is  lack  of  men  and  is  there  not  disquieting 
evidence  of  the  increase  of  incapables?" 

The  Picked  Half-Million 

"  The  picked  half-million!"  This  phrase 
Mr.  William  T.  Stead  applied  to  the  University 
men  of  Great  Britain.  "  It  is  theirs  to  com- 
mand and  the  world  obeys."  In  the  Great 
War  now  raging  their  blood  is  being  wasted 
as  never  before  in  history.  In  Oxford  (March, 
1915)  not  a  "Blue"  is  left,  not  an  athlete, 
only  about  eight  hundred  men  out  of  more  than 
four  times  that  number  for  whom  the  authori- 
ties made  ready  last  July.  In  an  article,  "  Ox- 
ford at  JVar,"  Professor  L.  P.  Jacks,  editor  of 
Hihbert  Journal,  makes  the  following  state- 
ments :  ^ 

".  .  .  It  is  probable  that  out  of  a  normal 
total  of  3,500,  not  more  than  750  will  be  re- 
turning, certainly  not  more  than  1,000.  And  of 
those  who  do  return  the  number  will  be  rapidly 
reduced  as  the  pending  commissions  are  allot- 
ted. .  .  .  The  best  —  morally,  intellectually, 
physically  —  have  gone.  With  rare  exceptions 
only  the  weaklings  remain.  .  .  . 

^Nation,  Jan.  28,   1915. 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  179 

*'  The  '  Roll  of  Honor  '  of  Oxford  men  who 
have  fallen  in  the  war  is  already  very  long  and 
it  lengthens  day  by  day.  Oxford  hardly  dares 
to  count  its  dead.  ...  I  return  to  my  work 
and  presently  another  regiment  passes,  march- 
ing with  a  different  step.  .  .  .  These,  I  think, 
must  be  raw  recruits.  But,  no!  This  is  the 
corps  humorously  known  in  the  University  as 
the  '  Last  Ditchers  ' —  a  body  composed  for  the 
most  part  of  professors  and  dons,  some  of  them 
well  advanced  in  life.  There  in  the  second 
rank  is  the  Poet  Laureate;  there  is  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh;  there  is  Professor  Gilbert  Murray; 
there  is  Mr.  Godley,  the  University  orator, 
seemingly  in  command,  and  many  others  known 
to  fame." 

At  Cambridge,*  the  same.  Even  the  pro- 
fessors are  engaged  in  drill  or  practicing  with 
rifle  or  pistol.  The  Universities  of  Scotland, 
the  municipal  Universities  of  England,  all  tell 
the  same  story.  The  German  Universities  are 
marking  time,   and  those   of   France   scarcely 

*"The  Cambridge  Revieiv,  has  published  the  names  of 
the  past  and  present  members  of  the  university  who  are 
serving  in  some  capacity  in  the  British  army.  The  number 
amounts  to  7,237,  and  they  are  distributed  amongst  the 
colleges  as  follows:  Trinity  College,  1,840;  Pembroke,  760; 
Gonville  and  Gains,  616;  Clare,  535;  Kings,  436;  Jesus,  385; 
Emanuel,  371;  Christ's,  359;  St.  John's,  337;  Trinit>-  Hall, 
328;  Magdalene,  214;  Queen's,  179;  Sidney  Sussex,  154; 
Peterhouse,  140;  Downing,  126;  Selwyn,  126;  St.  Catherine's, 
117;  Corpus  Christi,  109;  Fitzwilliam  Hall,  90;  honorary 
graduates,   16."     {School  and  Society,  March,    1915.) 


i8o        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

even  that.^  Young  French  instructors  in  Amer- 
ican Universities  have  gone  quietly  back  to  the 
colors,  and  even  confirmed  pacifists  are  on  the 
firing  line  on  the  Aisne  and  the  Marne. 

Lloyd-George  proudly  asserts:  "Our  new 
army  will  be  the  most  democratic  and  the  most 
self-sacrificing  that  has  ever  rallied  to  a  na- 
tion's colors.  .  .  .  And  fine  soldiers,  verily! 
All  the  pick  of  the  nation,  the  best  and  the  brav- 
est of  all  classes  of  society,  intellectuals  as  well 
as  workmen,  rich  as  well  as  poor,  the  elite  of 
our  trade  unionists,  as  well  as  our  most  bril- 
liant scholars  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  the 

^  In  Science,  April  2,  1915,  is  the  following  statement: 
"  A  correspondent  informs  us  that  the  following  German 
zoologists  have  been  killed  in  the  war:  Professor  Stanislaus 
von  Prowasek,  head  of  the  zoological  department  of  the 
Institute  for  Tropic  Diseases,  Hamburg;  Dr.  W.  Meyer, 
assistant  in  the  same  institute;  Dr.  W.  Mulsow,  assistant  in 
the  protozoological  department  of  the  Institute  for  Infec- 
tious Diseases,  Berlin;  Dr.  G.  Gantsch,  docent  for  zoology, 
Kiel;  Dr.  v.  Steudell,  Edinger  Institut,  Frankfurt;  Dr.  v. 
Miiller,  assistant  in  the  Zoological  Institute,  Kiel;  Dr.  v. 
Grienz,   assistant   in   the   Zoological   Institute,   Konigsberg. 

"  The  following  have  been  wounded,  but  have  in  some 
cases  recovered:  Professor  O.  zur  Strassen,  professor  of 
zoology,  Frankfurt;  Professor  L.  Rhumbler,  professor  of 
zoology,  Forest  School,  Minden;  Dr.  W.  Reichensperger, 
docent  for  zoology,  Bonn;  Dr.  C.  Thienemann,  docent  in 
Miinster." 

"Of  1400  students  in  the  Ecole  des  Beaux  Arts,  1300  went 
out  at  the  first  call,  and  three-fourths  of  those  who  survive 
are  in  the  trenches.  They  left  behind  only  a  few  cripples 
and  foreigners,  such  as  Russians,  natives  of  the  Balkans, 
and  occasional  Americans  and  Englishmen."  (Will  H.  Ir- 
win.) 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  181 

bench  and  bar  as  well  as  the  shop,  the  factory 
as  well  as  the  club,  have  furnished  these  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  vigorous  men  of  from 
twenty-one  to  thirty-six  years,  with  whom  my 
colleague,  Lord  Kitchener,  has  formed  his  new 
army."  ^ 

One  can  hardly  blame  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  for  his  point  of  view.  His  sole 
thought  is  of  speedy  victory,  not  of  the  nation's 
ultimate  stability.  Considering  the  long  future 
of  the  nation  only,  not  one  scholar,  not  one 
skilled  laborer  ought  to  be  sacrificed.  In  Lon- 
don, during  the  first  months  of  the  war,  the 
writer  saw  troops  going  to  the  front  and  re- 
cruits to  training  camps, —  strong,  serious,  well 
set-up  Englishmen,  reinforced  by  stronger  and 
often  more  vigorous  Scots.  Left  on  the  streets 
were  many  thousands  of  men  war  could  not  use, 
men  of  smaller  stature,  though  that  hurts  noth- 
ing. A  small  man  may  be  just  as  good  as  a 
large  one  If  as  well  put  together.  He  may 
even  be  a  better  soldier,  standing  less  chance 
of  being  hit.  But  many  Londoners  reserved  to 
be  fathers  of  a  large  part  of  the  next  genera- 
tion are  not  well  put  together.  Loose-jointed, 
shambling,  weak-kneed,  anaemic,  adenoid,  with 
crowded  and  imperfect  teeth,  tainted  by  liquor 
and  disease,  they  form  a  strain  from  which 
England  might  well  wish  to  be  free.     Into  the 

8  From  interview  with  H.  B.  Needham;  Collier's,  Febru- 
ary 27,   1915. 


i82        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

slum  by  the  line  of  least  resistance  these  feeble 
people  fall.  War  is  the  parent  of  the  slum. 
Nor  is  it  so  in  London  alone.  The  same  con- 
ditions occur  in  a  degree  in  every  great  city 
and  in  every  war-swept  land.  I  never  dreamed 
that  there  were  such  Scotchmen  alive  as  I  saw 
in  the  slums  of  Dundee.  "  Father  a  weed, 
mother  a  weed,  do  you  expect  the  daughter  to 
be  saffron  root?  "  Father  of  the  slums,  mother 
of  the  slums,  can  the  son  be  a  British  yeoman? 

Slum  life,  alcoholism,  vice,  each  of  these  is 
at  once  the  cause,  the  symptom  and  the  effect  of 
weakness.  The  evils  of  the  slum,  like  the  virus 
of  disease,  tend  to  spread  and  engulf  those  who, 
under  better  conditions,  might  have  been  re- 
sistant. War  selection  is  not  the  whole  story 
but  it  forms  a  large  part  of  it.  As  without 
war,  there  need  be  no  national  debt,  so  without 
war,  there  need  be  no  slums.  And  the  remedy 
for  slums  and  all  kindred  evils  is  available  only 
in  security  and  peace. 

We  still  have  but  scanty  details  of  recent  bat- 
tles, for  the  censors  have  drawn  behind  the  line 
an  impenetrable  veil,  and  the  events  of  current 
history  are  as  obscure  as  those  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Yet  this  is  certain  that  the  flower  of  our 
civilization  is  falling  as  never  before,  and  the 
"  gaps  in  our  picked  and  chosen  "  will  not  be 
filled  for  a  century.  Will  H.  Irwin,  of  New 
York,  a  competent  observer  in  the  field,  assures 
us   that   the   long-drawn   battle   of  Ypres   cost 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  183 

England  50,000  out  of  120,000  men  engaged. 
The  French  and  Belgian  loss  he  estimates  at 
70,000  killed  and  wounded,  that  of  the  Ger- 
mans at  375,000.  "  In  that  one  long  battle, 
Europe  lost  as  many  men  as  the  North  lost  in 
the  whole  Civil  War." 

Tommy  Atkins 

Certain  English  writers  have  urged  that  the 
private  soldier  is  not  the  best,  but  an  inferior 
product  of  the  British  nation.  "  Tommy  At- 
kins "  comes  from  the  streets,  the  wharves,  the 
factories  and  mines  and  if  the  empire  be  "  blue 
with  his  bones,"  it  is  after  all,  they  say,  to  the 
gain  of  the  nation,  as  her  better  blood  is  thus 
saved  for  higher  purposes.  It  has  been  as- 
serted that  the  wars  of  the  last  century  made 
no  real  drain  on  British  energies.  The  plain 
answer  to  this  statement  is  that  every  one  knows 
it  to  be  untrue.  The  regular  army  in  time  of 
peace  may  not  be  drawn  from  the  best,  although 
to  be  strong  physically  is  the  first  requisite  for 
enlistment.  But  "  the  best  "  is  not  to  be  meas- 
ured wholly  from  the  standpoint  of  society  or 
of  inherited  wealth.  Tommy  may  have  good 
stuff  In  him,  as  good  It  may  be  as  the  average 
lord,  and  when  a  great  trial  comes  as  In  Eng- 
land today,  the  lord,  the  athlete,  the  club  man, 
the  university  man,  all  find  their  place  In  the 
trenches  by  his  side. 

If  war  Is  actually  a  means  of  race  Improve- 


i84        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

ment  In  England  the  lesson  of  this  book  does 
not  apply  to  that  nation.  But  if  in  the  past, 
much  of  England's  best  has  not  fallen  on  the 
field  of  battle,  then  has  fame  been  singularly 
deceptive.  It  is  a  matter  of  statistics.  Doubt- 
less, in  enlistment,  physical  excellence  is  more 
considered  than  moral  or  mental  strength,  and 
certainly,  again,  the  more  noble  the  cause,  the 
more  worthy  the  class  of  men  who  will  risk 
their  lives  for  it. 

The  Non-Resistants 

It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  the  finest  type 
of  man  is  he  who  stands  on  principle  and  re- 
fuses to  go  to  war  at  all.  There  is  no  stronger 
or  more  sturdy  body  of  people  in  the  world  than 
the  Friends  or  Quakers,  who  have  stood  out  in 
England  and  America  in  unyielding  opposition 
to  war.  In  so  far  as  they  have  escaped  from 
war,  some  of  the  "  fittest  "  have  survived.  In 
Germany,  Austria  and  Russia,  the  Mennonites, 
Moravians  and  other  groups  have  made  a  like 
stand  against  military  service.  But  taking  the 
nations  as  a  whole,  the  Friends  and  their  kind 
form  a  very  small  minority,  a  few  fine  strains 
among  many,  and  not  numerous  enough  to  make 
a  tangible  exception. 

The  Society  of  Friends  maintains  that  no 
nation  would  be  the  worse  in  the  long  run,  if  it 
offered  to  aggression  only  its  moral,  mental  and 
financial  forces,  never  defending  itself  by  blood- 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  185 


shed.  They  argue  that  the  appeal  to  the  hu- 
man conscience  would  win  in  the  long  run,  es- 
pecially in  our  days  of  rapid  communication 
and  international  friendships.  This  view  may 
be  sound.  It  has  certainly  much  to  com- 
mend it.  But  we  have  no  data  by  which  the 
matter  can  be  tested.  No  nation  has  ever  tried 
the  plan. 

It  has  been  stated  (March,  191 5)  that  in  the 
Society  of  Friends  in  Great  Britain,  the  per- 
centage of  enlistments  among  men  of  the  age 
of  service  is  about  seven  in  a  hundred.  Among 
others  it  Is  from  66  to  70.  This  makes  for  a 
survival  of  the  blood  of  conscientious  people, 
and  a  relative  extension  of  their  principle  of 
non-resistance  to  violence. 

Scotland 

In  Scotland,  the  martial  spirit  has  generally 
been  stronger  than  in  England.  It  is  a  trait 
of  the  emotional  Celt  of  the  Highlands  as  well 
as  of  the  calculating  Scotsman  of  the  valley 
towns.  The  facts  as  to  war-selection  In  Scot- 
land have  been  vigorously  set  forth  by  Dr. 
James  A.  Macdonald. 

"  Scotland,"  says  Macdonald,  "  speaks  from 
long  and  sad  experience.  Every  heathery  hill 
looks  down  on  a  glen  that,  generation  after 
generation,  sent  In  answer  to  the  fiery  cross  and 
pipes  of  war  the  best  its  home  had  bred.  On 
those  moors  and  through  those  Intervales  life 


i86        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

at  best  was  hard.  The  wealdings  died  in  in- 
fancy. By  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
there  was  bred  a  race  of  giants  whose  kilted 
regiments,  every  man  six  feet  or  more,  were  the 
pride  of  their  race  and  the  glory  of  British 
arms. 

"  In  the  awful  days  of  the  Forty-five,  out  of 
this  very  Glenurquhart  eight  hundred  men  of 
the  clansmen's  mold  marched  to  Culloden  for 
their  '  Bonnie  Prince  Charlie.'  But  a  fortnight 
ago  among  those  who  marched  out  to  '  Leaving 
Glenurquhart,'  not  a  corporal's  guard,  though 
they  looked  their  best  from  Loch  Ness  to  Cor- 
rimony,  could  pass  the  heroic  standard  of  the 
olden  days.  Grants  "'  from  that  glen  and  from 
Strathspey  stained  with  their  blood  the  marble 
palaces  of  India,  and  saved  the  honor  of  hu- 
manity in  the  awful  days  of  the  mutiny;  but  to- 
day few  of  their  clan  are  left  '  in  their  ain  dear 
glen.'  The  sturdy  Chisholms  are  gone  from 
Strathglass.  Wild  and  high,  as  through  Bel- 
gium to  Waterloo  a  hundred  years  ago,  the 
'  Cameron's  Gathering '  ^  rose  this  very  month 
when  Lochiel  called  for  his  men,  but  how  many 
had  the  '  biological '  excellence  of  the  clan 
'  what  time  the  plaided  chiefs  came  down  to  do 

■^  "  When  the  good  Lord  was  making  Adam,  even  then  the 
Clan  Grant  was  as  numerous  as  the  heather  on  the  hills." 
(Bailie    Grant.) 

8  "  Proudly  they  march,  but  each   Cameron  knows, 
He  may  tread  the  heather  no  more." 


IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  187 

battle  with  Montrose?'  The  Mackenzies  to- 
day are  few  at  Lochbroom,  In  the  gloaming 
glens  of  the  West  Highlands  there  is  a  silence 
deep  as  death  where  once  a  thousand  Camp- 
bells would  start  up  in  the  night  at  the  call  of 
Argyll.  No  Lord  of  the  Isles  who  sleeps  in 
lona  could  ever  again  gather  a  clan  worthy  his 
tartan,  though  he  blew  all  night  on  the  pibroch 
of  Donald. 

"Tell  me,  have  the  fittest  survived?  Go 
through  their  cities  and  over  their  moors  and 
down  their  glens.  More  than  800  kilted  sol- 
diers of  the  giant  mold  went  out  of  my  ances- 
tral glen  at  Culloden  Moor;  up  and  down  that 
glen  I  have  gone  without  seeing  a  corporal's 
guard  of  the  olden  type.  In  vain  I  looked  for 
them  even  in  Inverness  itself. 

"  They  went  out,  these  Highland  clans, 
wherever  the  Royal  Standard  flew.  Again 
those  Highland  clans  go  out,  the  best  and  brav- 
est of  their  breed,  and  they  never  come  back. 
Biology  does  the  rest.  War's  commercial  dis- 
locations and  war's  financial  ruin  are  bad 
enough,  but  war's  biological  reaction  is  damage 
beyond  repair. 

"  Is  war  a  *  biological  necessity  '?  Let  Scot- 
land answer.  Never  since  the  days  of  the 
Stuarts  has  Scotland,  and  especially  the  Scot- 
tish Highlanders,  been  free  from  the  toll  taken 
by  the  recruiting  sergeants  for  Britain's  army. 
The  history  of  the   Celts   is  in  one   sentence: 


i88        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

'  Forever  they  went  out  to  battle,  and  forever 
they  fell;  " 

The  story  of  Ireland  must  run  largely  paral- 
lel with  that  of  Scotland,  the  effects  of  emigra- 
tion and  of  war-selection  being  even  more 
highly  accentuated  among  the  Irish  people.  But 
adequate  details  are  lacking,  so  far  as  the  pres- 
ent writer  is  concerned. 


Set  in  this  stormy  northern  sea, 
Queen  of  these  restless  fields  of  tide, 
England !  what  shall  men  say  of  thee. 
Before  whose  feet  the  worlds  divide? 

And  thou  whose  wounds  are  never  healed, 

Whose  weary  race  is  never  won, 
O  Cromwell's  England!  must  thou  yield 

For  every  inch  of  ground  a  son? 

What  profit  that  our  galleys  ride, 
Pine-forest-like,  on  every  main? 
Ruin  and  wreck  are  at  our  side. 
Grim  warders  of  the  House  of  Pain. 

Where  are  the  brave,  the  strong,  the  fleet  f 

fVhere  is  our  English  chivalry? 
Wild  grasses  are  their  burial-sheet, 

And  sobbing  waves  their  threnody. 

Peace,  peace !  we  wrong  the  noble  dead 

To  vex  their  solemn  slumber  so: 
Though  childless,  and  with  thorn-crowned  head. 

Up  the  steep  road  must  England  go. 

Ave  Imperatrix;  Oscar  IVUde. 


XI.     THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  WAR 

War  Selection  and  the  Republic 

The  Republic  of  America  was  founded  in  the 
spirit  of  democracy,  as  a  nation  free  from  caste 
and  privilege,  pledging  to  all  its  citizens  equality 
before  the  Law.  Nevertheless  with  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  generous  land  and  political  free- 
dom, it  bore  at  its  birth  two  heavy  burdens, 
War  and  Slavery.  Martial  glory  colored  its 
early  history,  and  national  problems  internal 
and  external  were  left  to  the  arbitrament  of 
war. 

The  armies  of  the  Republic  have  been  made 
up  of  volunteers,  men  who  went  forth  of  their 
own  free  will,  believing  themselves  to  be  in  the 
right,  and  willing  to  fight  for  it.  It  was  at 
Lexington  that  "  the  embattled  farmers  fired 
the  shot  heard  round  the  world,"  reechoing  the 
principle  written  by  Cromwell  across  the  statute- 
book  of  Parliament:  "All  just  powers  under 
God  are  derived  from  the  consent  of  the  peo- 
ple." The  Revolutionary  War  destroyed  no 
great  number  of  men,  though  among  the  slain 
were  many  of  the  finest  stock  of  the  Republic. 
Our  great  racial  loss  came  in  the  conflict  be- 
tween the  States,  for  the  getting  rid  of  slavery 

190 


UNITED  STATES  AND  WAR     191 

cost  a  million  lives.  I  saw  not  long  ago  in 
Maryland  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  filled  with 
the  bodies  of  the  fallen.  The  cemeteries  of 
the  South  cover  12,000  acres.  In  them  lie 
2415538  American  boys,  half  of  their  graves 
with  the  sign  "  Unknown."  North  and  South, 
all  were  in  dead  earnest,  each  believing  that  his 
view  of  state's  rights  or  of  national  authority 
rested  on  solid  ground.  North  and  South,  the 
nation  was  impoverished  by  the  loss.  The  gaps 
they  left  are  filled,  to  all  appearance.  A  new 
generation  has  grown  up  since  then.  Its  men 
and  women  have  taken  the  nation's  problems 
into  their  hands,  and  we  shall  never  know  how 
much  we  have  lost.  If  the  boys  in  blue  or  in 
gray  were  picked  men,  those  who  should  have 
been  their  descendants  would  have  raised  to- 
day's average,  but  it  Is  impossible  to  measure 
our  actual  loss  or  determine  how  far  the  men 
that  are  fall  short  of  those  that  might  have 
been. 

An  English  professor  who  lately  visited  the 
United  States  remarked  that  the  most  vivid 
impression  he  got  in  all  his  travels  across  the 
continent  came  from  the  chance  statement  of  a 
friend  In  Boston  that  he  had  belonged  to  the 
Sixty-ninth  Massachusetts  Regiment.  It  was, 
indeed,  a  wonder  that  from  this  little  State, 
with  little  more  than  half  a  million  people,  69,- 
000  volunteers  should  have  gone  into  the 
Civil  War.     This  gave  him  a  most  vivid  im- 


192        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

pression  of  the  moral  earnestness  Involved  in 
that  struggle.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Massachu- 
setts sent  159,000,  her  regiments  having  suf- 
fered enormous  depletion.  It  took  at  times 
2,500  men  to  fill  the  broken  ranks  of  a  regi- 
ment to  its  full  quota  of  a  thousand. 

From  Edward  H.  Clement  is  quoted  the  fol- 
lowing: "  Ever  since  the  last  quarter  of  the 
last  century  the  lamentation  has  been  heard: 
'Where  are  the  poets  of  yesterday?  Where 
are  the  historians,  the  philosophers,  the  political 
leaders,  the  moral  reformers  whom  the  whole 
country  and  the  world  gladly  followed  in  the 
liberalizing  of  thought  and  of  religion?'  In 
the  light  of  the  emphasis  on  the  degeneration 
of  nations  through  their  glorious  wars,  answer 
might  well  be  sought  in  the  Roll  of  Honor  of 
Harvard  Memorial  Hall.  The  price  was  worth 
paying,  no  doubt.  The  ones  who  gave  their 
lives  in  the  Civil  War  most  certainly  thought 
so.  But  the  price  was  exacted  all  the  same. 
There  stand  the  names  of  those  who,  but  for 
this  sacrifice,  might  have  continued  the  glory 
of  Boston  in  all  the  higher  reaches  of  intellec- 
tual life,  in  national  politics,  and  in  social  ad- 
vance." 

"  There  Is  no  class  In  this  republic,"  says 
Col.  Thomas  Wentworth  Higglnson,  "  from 
whom  the  response  of  patriotism  comes  more 
promptly  and  surely  than  from  Its  most  highly 
educated  class.     All  those  delusions  which  pass 


UNITED  STATES  AND  WAR     193 

current  in  Europe,  dating  back  to  De  Tocque- 
ville,  in  regard  to  some  supposed  torpor  or 
alienation  should  be  swept  away  forever.  In 
the  list  of  Harvard  University  men  who  fell  in 
the  Civil  War  it  is  surprising  to  note  how  large 
is  the  proportion  of  Puritan  and  Revolutionary 
descent." 

The  Civil  War  was  followed  by  the  extinc- 
tion of  slavery,  by  the  maintenance  of  the  de- 
mocracy, and  by  the  spread  of  the  free-school 
system  of  the  Union  throughout  the  rural  dis- 
tricts of  the  South.  That  all  these  results  were 
most  desirable,  even  vital  to  the  extension  of 
civilization,  no  one  may  now  deny.  But  we  may 
hesitate  to  ascribe  any  of  them  mainly  to  the 
Civil  War.  Sooner  or  later  they  were  inevita- 
ble in  the  life  of  our  people.  The  exhaustion 
of  the  South  opened  the  way,  but  their  final 
establishment  on  a  permanent  basis  is  due  to 
their  innate  wisdom  and  justice,  and  not  to  the 
results  of  any  campaign.  If  the  war  had  ended 
differently  the  same  problems  would  have  come 
up  again  for  final  judgment. 

"How  long  will  the  Republic  endure?" 
Guizot  once  asked  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 
"  So  long  as  the  ideas  of  its  founders  remain 
dominant,"  was  the  answer.  But  again  one 
might  ask,  "How  long  will  that  be?"  Just 
so  long,  it  may  be  said,  as  the  seed  of  the 
fathers  remains  dominant  in  the  land.  Not 
necessarily  of  Puritans  and  Virginians  alone, 


194        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

original  creators  of  the  free  nation.  We  must 
not  read  our  history  so  narrowly  as  that.  It  Is 
by  a  freeborn  stoclc  that  a  free  nation  is  cre- 
ated and  upheld.  Our  republic  shall  endure  so 
long  as  "  the  human  harvest  "  is  good,  so  long 
as  the  movement  of  history,  the  progress  of 
science  and  industry,  preserve  for  the  future 
not  the  worst  but  the  best  of  each  generation. 
The  Republic  of  Rome  lasted  so  long  as  there 
were  Romans;  the  Republic  of  America  will  last 
so  long  as  its  people,  in  blood  and  in  spirit,  re- 
main American. 

War's  Aftermath  in  Virginia 

In  a  little  volume  called  War's  Aftermath 
Dr.  Harvey  Ernest  Jordan  ^  and  myself  made 
a  study  of  the  selective  effects  of  the  Civil  War 
on  the  people  of  the  State  of  Virginia.  In  this 
investigation,  it  was  at  once  evident  that  no 
numerical  statement  was  possible.  Inasmuch 
as  people  can  not  count  what  has  never  been, 
all  estimates  of  loss  must  be  vague  and  varying 
with  each  different  community.  Again,  the 
changes  due  to  immigration,  emigration  and  the 
shifting  of  industrial  stress  make  the  original 
problem,  very  difficult  to  investigate  in  detail. 
The  intensive  study  of  two  Virginia  counties 
(Rockbridge  and  Spottsylvania)  with  a  hasty 
survey  of  several  others,  the  whole  checked  up 
by  the  opinions  of  fifty-five  Confederate  vet- 

1  Professor  of  Anatomy  in  the  University  pf  Virginia. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  WAR     195 

erans,  men  of  exceptional  character  and  intelli- 
gence, has  given  a  degree  of  certainty  to  thirty 
propositions,  those  most  relevant  to  the  present 
study  being  the  following :  ^ 

1.  The  leading  men  of  the  South  were  part 
of  select  companies  of  militia  and  these  were 
first  to  enlist. 

2.  The  flower  of  the  people  went  into  the 
war  at  the  beginning  and  of  these  a  large  part 
(20  to  40  per  cent.)  died  before  the  end. 

3.  War  took  chiefly  the  physically  fit;  the 
unfit  remained  behind. 

4.  Conscripts,  though  in  many  cases  the  equal 
of  volunteers,  were  on  the  average  inferior  to 
the  latter  in  moral  and  in  physical  qualities, 
making  poorer  soldiers. 

5.  A  certain  rather  small  number  ("bush- 
men")  fled  to  the  hills  and  other  places  to 
avoid  conscription.  Others  deserted  from  the 
ranks  and  joined  them.  These  deserters  suf- 
fered much  inconvenience,  but  little  loss  of  life. 

6.  The  volunteer  militia  companies,  having 
enlisted  at  the  beginning,  lost  more  heavily  than 
the  conscript  companies  who  entered  later: 
"  Those  who  '  fit '  the  most  survived  the  least." 

7.  The  result  was  that  the  men  of  highest 
character  and  quality  bore  largely  the  brunt  of 
the  war  and  lost  more  heavily  than  their  in- 
feriors.    Thus  was  produced  a  change  in  the 

2  These  propositions  are  given  mainly  in  the  actual  lan- 
guage of  some  one  of  the  veterans. 


196        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

balance  of  society  by  reducing  the  percentage 
of  the  best  types  without  a  corresponding  re- 
duction of  the  less  desirable  ones,  a  condition 
which  was  projected  into  the  next  generation 
because  the  inferior  lived  to  have  progeny  and 
the  others  did  not. 

8.  Eighty  per  cent,  of  the  "best  blood  "  of 
the  county  of  Spottsylvania  was  lost  in  the  war.' 
Of  course  in  any  estimation  of  quality,  we  can 
only  judge  of  those  who  died  by  the  subsequent 
success  of  their  fellows  who  survived.  We 
should  have  accomplished  a  great  deal  more  in 
these  fifty  years  if  we  could  have  had  the  help 
of  those  who  fell  in  the  war. 

9.  Widows  of  soldiers  suffered  great  hard- 
ships; most  of  them  never  remarried;  the  death 
rate  among  them  was  high  for  the  first  ten  or 
fifteen  years  after  the  war. 

10.  The  sweethearts  of  many  victims  never 
married.  With  the  lack  of  men  of  their  own 
class  some  girls  of  the  aristocracy  married  be- 
low their  previous  social  station. 

1 1.  The  public  men  of  the  South  as  a  whole 
do  not  measure  up  to  those  of  old  times. 

12.  "The  men  who  got  themselves  killed" 
were  on  the  whole  the  better  men. 

3  In  this  connection  we  may  note  that  "  best  blood  "  from 
a  racial  point  of  view  may  not  be  the  same  as  when  meas- 
ured by  social  standards.  Also  the  percentage  above  indi- 
cated may  have  been  true  of  one  county  most  specially  har- 
assed, but  certainly  not  of  the  southern  states  as  a  whole. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  WAR     197 

13.  Emigration  has  weakened  the  South,  in 
some  places  as  much  as  war. 

14.  The  energetic  fell  first  in  battle;  the 
weaker  died  in  camp.  The  very  weakest  were 
left  behind  from  the  beginning.* 

15.  The  war  could  have  been  avoided  if  only 
patience  and  good  sense  had  been  shown. 

16.  The  South  is  the  better  by  far  for  the 
spread  of  education,  for  the  willingness  to  work, 
for  the  loss  of  slavery,  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  union  and  for  the  development  of  business. 
But  for  war,  as  war,  there  is  no  redeeming  fea- 
ture, no  benefit  to  any  one,  not  one  word  to  be 
said. 

17.  The  curse  of  the  war  was  heavier  than  its 
blessing. 

"  It  is  not  right  that  war  be  classed  with 
pestilence  and  famine  in  our  prayers.  It  should 
have  an  hour,  a  daily  hour  to  itself  alone."  ^ 

Of  the  states  of  the  Union,  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  probably  suffered  most  in  the 
Civil  War.  Virginia  furnished  165,000  sol- 
diers out  of  a  population  (excluding  West  Vir- 
ginia) of  1,154,304.  North  Carolina  gave 
133,905,  of  which  number  42,000  were  killed 
or  wounded.  The  number  of  voters  in  North 
Carolina  in  1861  was  only  115,000,  the  popu- 

*  Compare  with  this  the  remark  of  Bishop  O.  B.  Fitz- 
gerald, "War  is  not  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  It  is  the 
survival  of  those  who  never  '  fit.'  " 

6  Mrs.  Roger  A.  Pryor,  a  Virginia  woman. 


198        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

latlon  992,622.  In  each  case  about  14  per 
cent,  of  the  population,  first  and  last,  went  to 
the  war.  The  University  of  Virginia  enlisted 
almost  as  a  body  and  suffered  accordingly.  Of 
the  students  in  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina, from  1850  to  1862,  842  or  57  per  cent, 
enlisted  in  the  Confederate  Army;  312  of  them 
(34  per  cent.)   fell  in  service. 

In  the  Union  Army  were  296,579  white  and 
137,676  colored  soldiers  from  the  South,  be- 
sides about  200,000  who  had  enlisted  in  North- 
ern regiments. 


XII.     DOES  HUMAN  NATURE 
CHANGE? 

How  Human  Nature  Changes 

One  commonly  hears  war  defended  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  ingrained  in  human  nature,  and 
"  human  nature  does  not  change."  "  So  long 
as  nature  produces  red-blooded  men,  the  sport 
of  war  will  endure."  The  thesis  is  maintained 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  (to  continue  the  figure 
of  speech)  most  recent  wars  are  made  by  "  blue- 
blooded  "  men,  supported  by  professional  War- 
traders,  men  of  "  no  blood  "  at  all.  In  other 
words,  members  of  the  privileged  military  caste 
bring  on  war,  backed  up  by  those  whose  only  in- 
terest is  money. 

An  instinct  for  struggle  is  doubtless  innate 
in  man  but  it  can  be  turned  to  noble  purposes 
as  well  as  to  destructive  ends.  There  are  a 
thousand  lines  of  effort  which  demand  finer 
courage  and  intenser  devotion  than  those  which 
center  in  war.  The  qualities  inherent  In  hu- 
man nature  are  for  the  most  part  very  simple 
elementary  impulses.  The  form  they  will  take 
depends  very  largely  on  custom,  tradition  and 
education.  With  changing  conditions  of  so- 
ciety the  same  impulse  will  manifest  itself  vari- 

199 


200        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

ously.  The  weakest  mind  is  the  one  most  gov- 
erned by  impulse  or  tradition.  To  think  for 
oneself,  to  suppress  impulses,  to  overcome  tra- 
dition and  convention  is  the  highest  ideal  of 
education.  Human  instincts  change  very 
slowly,  and  by  the  long  process  of  selection  and 
adaptation.  Human  customs,  the  vestment  of 
instinct,  are  formed  rapidly  and  mainly  by  the 
influence  of  association.  And  a  great  crisis  in 
the  life  of  a  man  or  a  race  may  make  a  profound 
alteration  in  the  mental  state  on  which  manners 
and  customs  depend.  In  the  mind  of  every  man 
there  exist  impulses  towards  strife  and  destruc- 
tion, which  may  be  exaggerated  or  perverted 
into  murder,  robbery  or  war,  through  persist- 
ently wrong  education.^  On  the  other  hand, 
every  man  has  social  instincts,  which  by  proper 
training  contribute  to  friendliness  and  mutual 
respect  between  men  and  tribes  and  nations. 

^A  British  officer  writes  thus  to  fVar  and  Peace  (March, 
1915): 

"  If  you  want  to  kill  forever  the  itching  for  war,  you 
must  try  to  make  peace  a  little  less  respectable,  a  little  more 
spirited.  For  all  your  fine  metaphor,  a  self-acting  machine 
is  not  such  fun  to  handle  as  a  rifle,  nor  a  Guardian's  meet- 
ing so  exciting  as  a  bayonet  charge.  In  so  many  thousands, 
active  service  with  all  its  discomforts  and  horrors,  comes  in 
the  guise  of  a  welcome  relief  from  the  uncongenial  slavery 
of  the  counting  house  and  the  factory.  You  must  inquire 
whether  desire  for  adventure  as  compared  with  the  desire 
for  domination  does  not  play  a  much  larger  part  than  you 
had  realized  in  that  very  complex  attitude  of  mind  which 
you  describe  rather  perfunctorily  as  militarism  and  whether 
you  cannot  devise  for  us  all  some  kind  of  return  to  nature 
sufficiently  alluring  to  satiate  the  savage  in  our  breasts." 


DOES  NATURE  CHANGE?      201 


Civilized  society  has  placed  personal  combat 
under  its  ban,  and  with  it  the  vendetta,  the  blood 
feud,  the  feudal  war,  the  bandit  raid,  every 
form  of  lawless  force  save  that  of  international 
war.  That  the  instinct  for  strife  can  be  con- 
trolled is  shown  by  the  maintenance  of  peace 
within  the  nation.  Peace  between  sister  nations 
would  follow  naturally,  were  it  not  that  war  is 
legalized  and  officially  abetted. 

The  Visionary  in  History 

That  human  nature  does  not  change  is  at 
most  a  half  truth  only.  Human  nature  does 
change  very  slowly,  but  human  perspective  some- 
times very  quickly.  In  the  short  course  of  re- 
corded history  human  nature  runs  in  much  the 
same  grooves.  In  the  long  story  of  a  strug- 
gling race,  changes  In  human  temper  are  many 
and  varied.  It  Is  a  matter  of  survival  and 
selection.  In  our  own  time  the  angle  of  vision 
is  being  rapidly,  often  suddenly  modified.  In 
all  times  what  was  once  in  Its  degree  right,  be- 
cause nothing  better  was  attainable,  becomes 
hideously  wrong  when  there  Is  a  choice  of  bet- 
ter things.  The  rise  of  civilization  Is  a  move- 
ment towards  the  best.  It  means  suppression 
of  the  second-best,  the  substitution  of  fore- 
thought and  justice  for  vacillation  and  violence. 
There  have  been  "  visionaries,"  "  peace  work- 
ers "  through  all  the  ages  and  they  have  labored 
consciously    or    unconsciously    for    justice,    for 


202        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

equality,  for  the  sanctity  of  life,  this,  too,  long 
before  either  peace  or  democracy  had  ever  been 
dreamed  of.  Always  the  best  men  have  stood 
for  the  best  attainable,  however  poor  that  may 
have  been,  and  from  time  to  time  there  came  to 
them  visions  of  that  far  day  when  murder  as  an 
argument  should  be  no  more,  and  when  all  fear 
and  violence  as  persuasive  forces  in  matters 
political,  social,  or  financial  should  vanish  from 
the  minds  of  men. 

No  one  has  yet  written  the  whole  story  of  the 
work  for  democracy  which  means  peace,  and 
for  peace  which  likewise  means  democracy. 
When  it  is  told  with  all  fullness  of  detail,  it  will 
be  the  noblest  of  human  records.  Briefly  and 
roughly,  piecing  out  the  limitations  of  knowl- 
edge, let  us  try  to  interpret  it. 

The  story  began,  let  us  say,  in  the  dark  ages, 
the  very  dark,  close  to  the  beginning  of  things, 
it  seems  to  us  now,  though  things  are  still  in  the 
beginning.  For  we  ourselves  are  about  as  near 
creation  as  was  any  one  else  we  ever  heard  of. 
We  are  still  in  a  primitive  era  along  with  Moses 
and  Homer,  with  Trismegistus  and  Ozymandias 
and  the  other  fossil  relics  in  the  sands  of  time. 
In  earlier  days  records  were  few  and  costly  and 
the  old  fables  have  died  out  one  by  one  in  the 
telling.  In  our  more  resourceful  times  records 
are  kept  by  machinery  and  the  air  is  full  of  their 
clamorous  insistence. 


DOES  NATURE  CHANGE*?      203 

The  "  In-Group  "  somewhere,  sometime,  let 
us  say,  was  gathered  round  the  camp-fire,  its 
warriors  rejoicing  in  victory  and  rioting  in  plun- 
der, its  women  bewailing  their  dead.  And  the 
slain  of  the  beaten  Out-group  were  being  pre- 
pared for  the  great  feast.  But  the  Visionary 
among  them  rose  to  stay  their  hand.  It  was 
to  him  unseemly  that  young  men  should  eat  the 
hearts  of  their  opponents  to  consummate  their 
own  bravery,  that  wise  men  should  have  to 
eat  the  brains  of  sages  to  complete  their  own 
wisdom,  that  men  should  devour  their  brother 
men  in  a  drunken  orgy  of  blood. 

And  his  fellows  answered  that  human  nature 
does  not  change;  always  had  there  been  feasts 
of  human  flesh  after  a  victory  won,  and  always 
there  would  be.  In  no  other  way  could  the 
Manes  of  their  own  fallen  heroes  be  comforted 
as  they  rose  to  Olympus  or  Valhalla.  And  the 
protester  was  swept  aside,  while  the  great  feast 
went  on.  But  a  true  word  outlasts  the  man 
who  speaks  it,  and  the  plea  to  let  the  captured 
bury  their  dead  at  last  brought  about  the  down- 
fall of  cannibalism.- 

However,  human  sacrifice  of  some  sort  there 
had  always  been,  and  the  gods  unchanging  still 

2  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  read  A  Defense  of 
Cannibalism,  by  Monsieur  B.  Beau,  translated  from  La 
Revue,  Feb.  15th,  1909,  in  which,  in  allegorical  form,  is 
described  a  cannibal  feast.  The  common  arguments  for 
war  are  here  advanced  as  pleas  for  cannibalism.  A  mis- 
sionary, protesting,  is  driven  off  by  the  natives,  who,  never- 


204        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

clamored  for  it,  demanding  now,  not  the  slain 
in  battle,  but  the  living  "  nearest  and  best." 
And  the  Visionary  rose  again,  this  time  to  plead 
that  the  gods  should  be  appeased,  not  with  the 
fair  bodies  of  youth,  but  with  dumb  sheep  and 
oxen  instead.  At  first,  perhaps,  out  of  fear 
they  gave  no  heed,  but  in  the  end  he  and  his 
like  prevailed,  and  with  the  lapse  of  time,  little 
by  little,  men  came  to  look  with  horror  on  any 
altar  stained  with  blood. 

Two  thousand  years  ago,  the  whole  world 
knows  the  story,  the  incomparable  Visionary  of 
Nazareth  raised  his  voice,  proclaiming  that  all 
men  were  brothers,  Gentile  and  Jew,  weak  and 
strong,  rich  and  poor,  all  children  of  the  same 
Father.  "  The  Prince  of  Peace  "  they  called 
him,  for  peace  means  brotherhood.  But  men 
were  in  power  who  loved  not  peace  nor  brother- 
hood. These  rose  in  anger  and  destroyed  him. 
And  yet  his  word  was  Truth,  sinking  deep  and 
long  enduring,  some  fragments  in  the  heart  of 
every  one  of  us. 

Among  those  who  heard  his  sayings  and  re- 
membered them  was  much  variance  of  interpre- 
tation. Every  group  came  to  have  its  schism, 
and   each   divergent   faction   found  the   others 

theless,  give  up  the  practice.  The  chieftain  insists,  however, 
that  "  It  is  absurd  to  pretend  to  preserve  war  while  pro- 
scribing cannibalism,  for  this  is  at  once  the  principal  cause, 
the  necessary  condition   and  the  real   justification  of  it." 


DOES  NATURE  CHANGE?       205 

tainted  by  heresy,  to  be  expiated  only  with 
blood.  To  betray  the  faith  meant  death,  for 
death  only  would  save  others  from  contamina- 
tion. Thus  the  rack  and  the  pyre  became  in- 
struments of  faith. 

Now  once  more  the  Visionary  raised  a  voice, 
protesting  against  all  shackling  of  the  human 
mind,  and  proclaiming  man's  right  to  call  on 
God  each  in  his  own  way.  *'  Dangerous  doc- 
trine this,"  the  people  said,  and  to  a  stake  on 
Oxford  Common  they  chained  him  and  his  fel- 
low Visionary,  Ridley.  "  Be  of  good  cheer, 
Master  Ridley,"  said  Latimer,  *'  We  shall  to- 
day light  such  a  candle,  by  God's  grace,  in  Eng- 
land as  shall  not  be  put  out."  And  by  the  light 
of  this  "  Oxford  candle  "  men  saw  the  wrong 
they  had  done,  and  the  torch  of  intolerance 
never  again  flared  up  so  high  in  England. 

On  the  field  of  victory  the  In-Group  long 
slew  without  mercy  the  conquered  foe.  One 
day  the  Visionary  came  to  plead  for  the  lives 
of  the  captured  survivors.  Better  to  keep 
them  as  workers  than  to  destroy  them  wantonly. 
And  helots  being  profitable,  saving  men's  labor 
in  a  world  hard  at  the  best,  arose  gradually  the 
great  system  of  slavery,  hurtful  alike  to  master 
and  man.  Whatever  its  phases  in  later  days, 
its  primal  motive  was  mercy. 

But  it  came  to  pass,  as  time  went  on  and  peo- 
ple more  and  more  craved  excitement,  that  they 


2o6        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

chose  strong  men  from  among  their  captured 
slaves  and  trained  them  to  fight  with  swords  in 
the  arena.  Thus  were  brave  men  butchered 
"  to  make  a  Roman  hoHday."  But  here  again, 
a  Visionary  stood  up  to  condemn.  It  was  the 
monk  Telemachus,  who  with  his  life  stopped  the 
last  gladiatorial  combat.  They  disposed  of 
him  easily,  but  that  day  of  blood  was  passing. 
Others  saw  with  his  eyes  and  sickened  at  the 
sight.  The  system  of  slavery,  however,  still  en- 
dured, though  as  centuries  passed  the  mind  and 
soul  of  man  revolted  more  and  more  against  it. 

Fourteen  hundred  years  after  Telemachus, 
arose  John  Brown  who  made  his  last  stand 
against  the  time-honored  institution.  When 
they  took  him  from  the  gallows  at  Charlestown 
in  Virginia  and  laid  his  body  in  the  grave  at 
North  Elba,  where  it  "  lies  mouldering,"  his 
soul,  you  remember,  went  marching  on.  "  It 
seems,"  said  Thoreau  at  Concord,  fifty  years 
ago  in  the  old  town  hall,  "  It  seems  as  if  no  one 
ever  died  in  America  before.  If  that  man's 
acts  and  words  do  not  create  a  revival,  it  will 
be  the  severest  possible  satire  on  words  and  acts 
that  do."  "  Some  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago,"  Thoreau  continued,  "  Christ  was  cruci- 
fied. This  morning,  perchance,  Captain  Brown 
was  hung.  .  .  .  He  is  not  '  Old  Brown  '  any 
longer.     He  is  an  angel  of  light." 

Captured,  wounded,  on  the  floor  of  the  old 


DOES  NATURE  CHANGE?      207 

Armory  at  Harper's  Ferry  lay  the  Vision- 
ary, John  Brown.  "  No  man  sent  me  here," 
he  said,  "  It  was  my  own  prompting  and  that  of 
my  Maker.  I  acknowledge  no  master  in  hu- 
man form.  It  is  perfectly  right  for  any  one  to 
interfere  with  you  so  far  as  to  free  those  you 
willfully  and  wickedly  hold  in  bondage.  I  have 
yet  to  hear  that  God  is  a  respecter  of  persons. 
.  .  .  You  may  dispose  of  me  very  easily.  I  am 
nearly  disposed  of  now,  but  this  question  is  still 
to  be  settled  and  the  end  is  not  yet." 

And  again  they  said,  clergymen,  professors 
and  journalists,  "  There  have  always  been 
slaves  and  there  always  will  be.  It  is  the  end 
and  purpose  of  inferiors  to  take  inferior  places. 
Human  nature  never  changes."  Nevertheless, 
slavery  was  to  pass  away  forever,  even  though 
*'  for  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  lash, 
another  was  drawn  by  the  sword."  And  a  mil- 
lion men  laid  down  their  lives  to  prove  that 
though  human  nature  might  not  change,  yet  it 
could  develop  a  wholly  different  point  of  view  in 
matters  of  right  and  justice. 

More  than  once  before  our  day  Europe  has 
been  reddened  with  brothers'  blood.  Feudal 
lords  fought  against  feudal  lords,  the  men  of 
one  faith  took  arms  against  those  of  another. 
Soldiers  of  fortune  peddled  out  for  gold  the 
service  of  their  marauding  bands  to  one  prince 
or  to  one  religion,  and  then  to  another.     No 


2o8        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

one  was  armed  with  the  awful  weapons  of  to- 
day, but  hate  raged  everywhere  and  was  cher- 
ished as  a  patriotic  duty  to  an  extent  which  we 
of  gentler  rearing  can  scarcely  conceive.  The 
worst  manifestations  of  today  come  down  in 
direct  line  from  the  hatreds  and  cruelties  of  the 
17th  century  and  from  which  no  part  of  the 
Continent  of  Europe  was  then  free.^ 

"  Of  all  tyrannies  of  unreason  in  the  modern 
world,"  says  Andrew  D.  White,'^  "  one  holds  a 
supremely  evil  prominence.  It  covered  the  pe- 
riod from  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth,  and  through- 
out those  hundred  years  was  waged  a  war  of 
hatreds,  racial,  religious,  national  and  personal, 
of  ambitions,  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  of  aspira- 
tions patriotic  and  selfish,  of  efforts  noble  and 
vile.  During  all  those  weary  generations,  Eu- 
rope became  one  broad  battlefield  drenched  in 
human  blood  and  lighted  from  innumerable 
scaffolds." 

In  this  confused  struggle  appeared  heroes  and 

3  Like  conditions  prevailed  in  Asia  at  that  time.  For 
instance,  at  Nauwon,  in  Korea,  three  hundred  years  ago, 
three  thousand  heads  of  the  slain  were  pickled  and  for- 
warded to  the  Japanese  Shogun  Hideyoshi,  as  evidence  of 
victory.  Later  at  Suchon  the  trophies,  39,000  pickled  heads, 
were  found  so  burdensome  that  only  ears  and  noses  were 
sent.  In  Kyoto  still  stands  the  stone  monument  of  the 
Mimi  Dzuka  or  "  Ear  Mound,"  where  they  were  trium- 
phantly buried.  And  here  again,  in  Japan  as  in  Europe, 
voices  were   raised   for  better   things. 

*  Material  quoted  on  this  and  two  following  pages  is 
from  White's  Seven  Great  Statesmen. 


DOES  NATURE  CHANGE?      209 

martyrs,  ruffians  and  scoundrels.  The  domi- 
nant International  gospel  was  that  of  Machla- 
velll,  a  gospel  of  malicious  opportunism. 

"  Into  the  very  midst  of  this  welter  of  evil, 
at  a  point  In  time  to  all  appearances  hopeless, 
In  a  nation  In  which  every  man,  woman  and 
child  was  under  sentence  of  death  from  its  sov- 
ereign, was  born  a  man  who  wrought  as  no  other 
has  done  for  a  redemption  of  civilization  from 
the  cause  of  that  misery;  who  thought  out  for 
Europe  the  principles  of  right  reason  In  inter- 
national law,  who  made  them  heard,  who  gave 
a  noble  change  to  the  course  of  human  affairs, 
whose  thoughts,  reasonings,  suggestions  and  ap- 
peals produced  an  environment  In  v/hich  came 
an  evolution  of  humanity  which  still  continues." 
Hugo  Grotius  spoke  for  the  Inalienable 
rights  of  man,  the  right  to  be,  to  think,  to  live, 
to  travel,  to  trade,  to  use  the  land  and  the  sea, 
—  rights  which  no  authority  should  take  away. 
In  his  day  he  fought  against  the  same  old  preju- 
dice, the  human  nature  that  can  never  change, 
the  crimes  that  have  always  been  and  so  must 
ever  be,  the  same  "  unreason,  bigotry,  party 
passion,  individual  ambition,  all  masquerading 
as  saving  faith." 

In  prison.  In  poverty,  In  banishment,  the  Vi- 
sionary of  Holland  to  whom  more  than  to  any 
one  else  we  owe  such  International  justice  as 
is  granted  us  today,  may  be  granted  when  to- 
day's conflict  Is  over,  wrote  against  war,  against 


210        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

intolerance,  against  the  double  standards  of 
morality  for  men  and  nations,  the  idea  that 
what  is  wrong  in  the  In-Group  is  right  toward 
the  Outs. 

"  Few  more  inspiring  things  have  been  seen 
in  human  history,  Grotius  had  apparently 
every  reason  for  yielding  to  pessimism,  for  hat- 
ing his  country  and  for  despising  the  race.  He 
might  have  given  his  life  to  satirizing  his  ene- 
mies and  to  scolding  at  human  folly.  He  did 
nothing  of  the  sort,  but  worked  on,  day  and 
night,  to  bestow  on  mankind  one  of  the  most 
precious  blessings  it  has  ever  received,"  the 
blessing  of  international  law  in  place  of  inter- 
national violence,  hatred  and  anarchy.  "  More 
wonderful  than  the  book  was  the  faith  of  the 
author.  ,  .  .  He  saw  in  all  this  darkness  one 
court  sitting  supreme  to  which  he  might  make 
appeal,  and  that  court  the  heart  and  mind  of 
universal  humanity.  '  I  saw,'  said  Grotius, 
'  many  and  grave  reasons  why  I  should  write  a 
work  on  that  subject.  I  saw  in  the  whole 
Christian  world  a  license  of  fighting  at  which 
even  barbarian  nations  might  blush.  Wars 
were  begun  on  trifling  pretexts  or  none  at  all 
and  carried  on  without  any  reference  for  law 
Divine  or  human.  A  declaration  of  war 
seemed  to  let  loose  every  crime.'  War  to 
extermination  became  the  only  means  of  obtain- 
ing peace."  The  annulling  of  oaths  and  trea- 
ties "  inconvenient  to  keep  "  leaves,  said  Wil- 


DOES  NATURE  CHANGE?      211 

liam  of  Orange,  "  nothing  certain  in  the  world." 
And  to  build  up  a  foundation  of  certainty  which 
should  in  time  mean  universal  peace,  was  the 
purpose  of  International  Law. 

A  scholar,  a  patriot,  a  lover  of  his  race,  with 
no  army  and  no  claque  behind  him,  Grotius  was 
soon  disposed  of.  "  It  had  not  been  given  him 
to  see  any  apparent  result  of  his  great  gift  to 
mankind."  From  childhood  till  his  death  in 
shipwreck  on  the  Pomeranian  Coast,  he  "  had 
known  nothing  but  war,  bigoted,  cruel,  revenge- 
ful war,  extending  on  all  sides  about  him." 
And  when  they  took  his  body  through  Rotter- 
dam for  burial  in  his  old  home  at  Delft,  stones 
were  thrown  at  his  coffin  by  the  city  mob.  Yet 
in  all  these  two  thousand  years,  no  one  else  has 
come  nearer  to  the  mission  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth. *'  The  earth  is  upheld  by  the  influ- 
ence of  good  men.  They  keep  the  world  whole- 
some." The  mantle  of  Grotius  has  not  fallen 
to  the  ground,  it  rests  on  the  shoulders  of  many, 
not  one  so  great  as  he,  but  all  imbued  with  the 
same  spirit  of  toleration  and  humanity. 

After  the  seizure  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine, 
Prussian  revenge  for  old  French  outrages,  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Interparliamentary  Union 
was  called  at  Berlin.  This  Union  was  to  in- 
clude representatives  from  all  the  congresses, 
parliaments  and  self-governing  bodies  of  the 
world,  and  its  purpose  was  to  bring  about  ra- 


212        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

tional  relations  among  the  great  nations.  The 
representatives  of  France  refused  to  attend. 
They  would  not  go  to  Prussia  to  find  themselves 
and  their  nation  insulted.  One  only,  Frederic 
Passy  of  Paris,  took  a  broader  view.  "  I  will 
go  to  Berlin,"  he  said,  "  and  I  will  not  be  in- 
sulted." And  he  went,  and  took  his  part  in  the 
work  for  better  understanding  which  should  at 
last  make  war  unthinkable.  The  present  writer 
remembers,  as  one  of  the  fine  moments  of  life, 
a  visit  to  the  aged  Passy  at  his  home  at  Neuilly- 
sur-Seine,  in  which,  forty  years  after,  the  vet- 
eran peace-worker  showed  him  the  photograph 
of  the  first  meeting  of  the  Interparliamentary 
Union.  In  this  picture,  there  in  the  central  seat, 
the  place  of  honor,  appears  the  brave  deputy  of 
France. 

Little  by  little,  by  one  means  or  another, 
arises  the  great  appeal  of  the  heart  and  mind  of 
universal  humanity,  the  appeal  to  keep  unrea- 
soning anger  out  of  the  councils  of  the  world, 
to  make  the  use  of  violence  the  last  resort  and 
not  the  first  in  international  disputes.  In  this 
movement  devoted  women  are  coming  to  take 
their  part.  Through  the  ages,  woman  has 
borne  the  real  brunt  of  war.  It  was  a  brave 
woman  of  Austria,  the  Baroness  Bertha  von 
Siittner,  who  first  gave  to  the  world  the  story 
of  war,  its  patriotism  and  its  intrigues,  as  seen 
from     the     woman's     side.     This     vision     of 


DOES  NATURE  CHANGE*?   213 

women's  suffering,  set  forth  in  IFaffen  Niedcr, 
turned  the  current  of  thought  for  thousands  of 
other  women.  "  IFaffen  Nieder,"  Madame  von 
Siittner  once  said  to  me,  "  is  not  the  story  of  my 
life,  it  made  my  life."  She  had  glimpsed  the 
vision  of  a  better  world,  one  ruled  by  ideas  and 
not  by  bayonets.  Today,  when  the  old  half- 
smothered  brutalities  have  broken  out  again,  the 
league  of  women  rises  to  plead  for  the  sacred- 
ness  of  human  life,  calling  to  men  to  stop  this 
wicked  war. 

Fifty  years  ago  and  more  a  great  battle  was 
fought  on  the  hills  above  Desenzano,  near  the 
blue  Lake  of  Garda.  There  on  the  field  of 
Solferino,  more  than  forty  thousand  men  killed 
and  wounded  lay  for  three  days  untended  under 
the  hot  June  sun  of  Lombardy,  the  prey  of  flies 
and  mosquitoes.  In  those  merciless  times  a 
wounded  soldier,  like  a  broken  musket,  was  not 
worth  saving.  It  happened,  however,  that 
Henri  Dunant  of  Geneva,  a  tourist  in  Verona, 
led  by  curiosity  went  out  at  last  to  see  the  bat- 
tlefield. There  and  then  he  touched  one  of  the 
first  modern  notes  in  regard  to  war,  human  sym- 
pathy. This,  he  said,  is  no  field  of  glory.  "  It 
is  a  European  calamity."  And  he  set  to  work 
with  the  help  of  the  people  of  Desenzano  to 
relieve  the  suffering  of  that  hideous  day.  Then 
and  there  began  the  Red  Cross  movement  which 
now  spreads  the  world  over. 


214        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

Dunant  died  at  Heiden  in  Switzerland,  Octo- 
ber 31st,  19 10,  having  received  the  Nobel  Peace 
Prize  in  recognition  of  what  he  had  done,  not 
for  peace  directly,  but  to  make  war  a  shade  less 
horrible. 

There  have  been  many  Visionaries  in  history, 
true  to  the  light  they  saw  —  men  and  women 
who  have  given  their  lives  for  their  fellows. 
Thoreau  spoke  of  Jesus  and  John  Brown  as 
"  the  ends  of  a  chain  that  is  not  without  its 
links."  The  Visionaries  of  the  ages  are  links 
of  a  chain  which  will  not  end.  The  causes  they 
serve  shall  outlast  all  opposition.  The  indi- 
vidual is  weak  enough  and  easily  disposed  of, 
but  his  soul  goes  marching  on.  In  a  high  sense, 
"  human  nature  does  not  change," —  it  responds 
eternally  to  the  call  of  righteousness  I 

So  many  human  illusions  and  obsessions, 
Crusades,  Feudalism,  Inquisition,  Witchcraft, 
each  has  gone  its  way,  and  perished  each  in  the 
day  of  its  apparent  triumph !  When  men  come 
to  see  nakedly  what  their  wicked  institutions 
mean,  they  will  no  longer  live  and  die  to  main- 
tain them.  By  the  same  token.  War  is  doomed. 
If  today's  horror  be  not  its  death-throe,  if  we 
must  look  forward  to  another,  then  all  thrones 
and  empires  will  go  down  together.  "  God  is 
not  mocked  forever."     Neither  is  man! 


XIII.     AFTER  WAR,  WHAT? 

The  Great  War  will  eventually  come  to  a 
close  through  exhaustion,  through  lack  of 
money,  through  starvation  or  through  sorrow 
and  mourning.  There  is  at  present  (March, 
19 15)  little  prospect  that  it  will  end  in  any 
sweeping  victory.  It  may  be  that  Jean  de 
Bloch  was  right  and  that  the  armies  of  today 
with  their  hundreds  of  miles  of  battle  front  are 
too  large  to  be  maneuvered.  Giant  guns  and 
swift  instruments  of  murder  balance  one  an- 
other. As  armies  become  invulnerable,  war-ac- 
tivities have  been  more  and  more  directed 
against  non-combatants.  Little  headway  has 
been  made  by  either  side  in  those  features  com- 
monly regarded  as  legitimate  warfare.  Except 
for  the  invasion  of  Belgium,  the  Germans  have 
accomplished  little.  Except  for  parrying  the 
stab  at  France,  the  Allies  have  so  far  made  as 
little  headway.  And  everywhere  non-combat- 
ants have  suffered  with  the  armies. 

The  warfare  at  sea  on  both  sides  has  been  di- 
rected mainly  against  the  property  of  private 
citizens.  All  this,  raids  on  seaside  resorts,  the 
capture  of  merchant  ships,  the  sinking  of  fish- 
ing-boats,  the   whole   matter   of  War   Zones, 

215 


2i6        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

blockade  and  food  contraband,  is  directed 
against  those  who  cannot  strike  back.  The 
only  difference  between  this  and  old-time  piracy 
is  that  the  modern  free-booters  have  framed 
their  own  rules,  while  the  outlaw  of  the  past 
knew  no  restrictions.  Frederic  the  Great,  with 
the  frankness  of  a  King  said:  "  As  to  war,  it 
is  a  trade  in  which  the  least  scruple  would  spoil 
everything.  Indeed,  what  man  of  honor  would 
make  war  if  he  had  not  the  right  to  make  rules 
that  should  authorize  plunder,  fire  and  car- 
nage? " 

Let  us  assume  that  there  will  be  no  victory 
for  either  side,  but  that  all  nations  concerned 
will  find  themselves  defeated.  The  treaty  of 
peace  must  be  written  at  last.  There  are  many 
things  we  should  like  to  put  into  this  treaty, 
things  essential  to  the  future  security  and  well- 
being  of  Europe.  But  we  shall  not  get  many  of 
them.  We  may  not  get  any.  It  may  be  that 
the  drawn  game  will  end  in  a  truce,  not  of  peace 
but  of  exhaustion. 

After  the  war  is  over  then  will  begin  the  work 
of  reconstruction.  Then  will  come  the  test  of 
our  mettle.  Can  Europe  build  up  a  solid 
foundation  of  peace  amid  the  havoc  of  greed 
and  hate  ?  Constructive  work  belongs  to  peace ; 
it  may  take  fifty  years  to  put  the  Continent  in 
order.  When  the  killing  is  stopped,  perma- 
nently or  for  a  breathing  spell,  the  forces  of  law 
and  order  must  begin  mobilization. 


AFTER  WAR,  WHAT'?  217 

There  are  many  things  we  need  to  make  civil- 
ization stable  and  wholesome.  Every  gain 
counts.  We  want  foi'eign  exploitation  limited 
by  law  and  justice.  We  want  to  have  diplo- 
macy and  armies  no  longer  at  the  call  of  ad- 
venturers. We  want  no  more  "  red  rubber," 
red  copra  or  red  diamonds.  We  want  open 
diplomacy  and  we  want  democracy.  Whatever 
is  secret  is  corrupt,  and  the  control  of  armies 
by  an  unchecked  few  is  a  constant  menace  to 
human  welfare.  The  people  who  pay  and  who 
die  should  know  what  they  pay  for  and  why 
they  are  called  upon  to  die. 

We  want  all  private  profit  taken  away  from 
war.  We  want  to  see  armies  and  navies  brought 
down  from  the  maximum  of  expense  to  the  min- 
imum of  safety.  We  want  to  have  conscription 
abolished  and  military  service  put  on  the  same 
voluntary  basis  as  other  more  constructive 
trades.  A  direct  cause  of  modern  warfare  Is 
the  eagerness  to  find  something  for  over-grown 
armies  and  navies  to  do.  We  want  to  abolish 
piracy  at  sea  and  murder  from  the  air.  We 
want  to  conserve  the  Interests  of  neutrals  and  of 
non-combatants.  We  want  to  take  from  war  at 
once  Its  loot  and  its  glory.  We  hope  especially 
for  an  abatement  of  tariffs  and  the  removal  of 
all  obstacles  that  check  the  flow  of  commerce. 
With  a  free  current  of  trade  the  Eastern  half 
of  Europe  would  lose  Its  commercial  unrest. 
We  cannot  mend  all  the  defects  of  Geography, 


2i8        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

but  we  might  refrain  from  aggravating  them. 
Landlocked  nations  will  not  be  so  tempted  to 
"  hack,  a  way  to  the  sea,"  if  it  is  not  made  ar- 
tifically  distant  by  barriers  to  trade.  We  would 
like  to  have  nations  pay  their  debts,  not  struggle 
in  rivalry  of  borrowing.  We  would  welcome 
the  day  of  fewer  kings,  all  with  limited  au- 
thority. 

Furthermore  we  would  like  to  see  manhood 
suffrage  everywhere  and  womanhood  suffrage 
too,  Councils  of  the  People  instead  of  "  Con- 
certs of  Powers,"  effective  Parliaments,  not 
mere  debating  societies  without  power  to  act. 
We  would  like  to  see  land-reforms,  tax-reforms, 
reforms  in  schools  and  universities,  in  judicial 
procedure,  in  religion,  sanitation  and  temper- 
ance, with  the  elimination  of  caste  and  privilege 
wherever  entrenched.  We  would  like  to  see 
every  man  a  potential  citizen  of  the  country  he 
lives  in.  We  would  like  to  see  the  map  of  Eu- 
rope redrawn  a  bit  (but  not  too  much)  in  the 
Interests  of  freedom  and  fair  play.  We  would 
like  to  see  the  small  nations  left  as  stable  as 
great  ones,  for  small  nations,^  have  done  more 
than  their  share  in  the  work  of  civilization. 
We  believe  that  a  nation  can  have  no  welfare 
independent  of  the  individual  welfare  of  its 
people.     That  nation  is  greatest  which  has  most 

1  "  If  you  try  to  find  a  great  nation  in  Europe,  you  must 
look  among  the  small  ones."     (Gobat.) 


AFTER  WAR,  WHAT?  219 

individual  initiative  along  with  most  abundant 
life. 

We  would  like  to  see  Belgium  restored  to 
the  "  permanent  neutrality  "  which  is  her  right, 
and  Luxemburg  as  well.  We  believe  that  the 
"  Balkans  should  belong  to  the  Balkans."  We 
would  like  to  see,  if  it  may  be,  Constantinople 
neutralized  and  autonomy  restored  to  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  to  Finland,  to  Armenia.  We  would 
hear  from  the  Danes  in  Northern  Schleswig  and 
from  the  Poles  in  Warsaw,  Posen  and  Galicia. 
The  people  especially  concerned  should  be  con- 
sulted over  every  change  in  boundary  lines.  We 
would  insist  that  the  Hague  Conference  be  made 
up  wholly  of  serious  men,  not  baffled  by  diplo- 
matists sparring  for  advantage.  We  would 
like  to  see  the  Hague  Tribunal  dignified  as  the 
International  Court  of  the  world,  to  extend  and 
create  International  Law  by  Its  precedents. 
We  would  like  to  have  Judicial  Procedure  and 
Arbitral  Decisions  everywhere  take  the  place 
of  war  talk  and  war  preparations,  to  see  the 
channels  of  commerce  opened  wide,  neutralized, 
unfortified  and  free  to  all  the  world, —  the  Bos- 
porus, the  Dardanelles,  the  straits  of  Den- 
mark, Gibraltar  and  Aden,  the  canals  of  Suez, 
Panama,  and  Kiel  as  well.  Above  all  we 
should  hope  to  have  human  life  held  as  sacred 
as  the  flag,  and  patriotism  become  "  planetary," 
not  merely  tribal  or  provincial.     Whatever  is 


220        WAR  AND  THE  BREED 

good  for  the  world  is  good  for  every  nation  in 
it.  All  this  leaves  task  enough  for  the  lovers 
of  peace.  "  Never  again  should  the  sword  be 
sheathed;  it  should  be  broken." 

Not  much  of  all  this  may  go  into  the  coming 
treaty  of  peace.  But  the  struggle  will  go  on, 
the  most  intense  since  the  days  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. A  few  resolute  men,  reckless  of  conse- 
quences, brought  on  the  Great  War.  A  few 
men,  equally  resolute,  could  make  war  impos- 
sible, if  they  had  the  backing  their  cause  de- 
mands. To  get  peace  is  to  do  away  with  stand- 
ing incentives  to  war.  Only  peace  activities  can 
achieve  this.  And  among  these  activities,  he 
who  looks  for  it  may  find,  in  full  abundance,  the 
long-sought  "  Moral  Equivalent  for  War." 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

In  this  appendix  are  added  a  number  of  pertinent  ex- 
tracts which  illustrate  matters  considered  in  the  fore- 
going pages. 

A.    THE  LONG  COST  OF  WAR  ^ 

Caleb  Williams  Saleeby. 

The  people  who  will  live  in  the  years  to  come  get 
none  of  the  glory  for  which  rulers  wage  war;  they,  at 
least,  are  innocent;  they  are  at  the  mercy  of  the  past, 
which  did  not  consult  them;  but  they  must  pay. 

Here  is  the  terrible  argument.  Take  the  case  of 
Paris  when  I  write.  No  able-bodied  man  between 
twenty  and  forty-five  is  to  be  found  there.  When  the 
boys  under  twenty  reach  that  age,  they  too,  if  they  are 
healthy,  will  be  sent  away.  All  the  able-bodied,  all 
who  have  good  eyes  and  good  teeth,  who  are  not  lame 
or  deaf,  who  have  sound  hearts  and  lungs,  must  go 
off,  never  to  return  in  hosts  of  cases.  But  if  the  doctor 
finds  their  lungs  full  of  consumption,  as  scores  of  thou- 
sands of  lungs  are,  or  that  their  hearts  do  not  beat  as 
hearts  must  beat  on  the  march;  or,  if  they  cannot  see, 
or  hear,  or  stand  on  their  feet  at  all,  then  the  men 
stay  at  home  and  are  spared.  So  that  war  not  only 
demands  a  price  in  life,  even  of  the  victor,  but  the  life 
which  war  demands  is  always  the  strongest  and  fittest, 
and  healthiest  and  best. 

'^Westminster  Gazette,  Feb.  ii,  1915. 
223 


224  APPENDIX 


Every  afternoon,  nowadays,  I  take  my  daily  walk 
in  Hyde  Park,  where  thousands  of  young  men  are 
drilling  for  what  we  call  "  Kitchener's  Army."  The 
standard  for  admission  is  high,  and  has  lately  been 
raised.  The  doctors  reject  a  large  proportion  of  all 
whom  they  examine.  In  the  park  the  two  kinds  of  men 
may  now  be  daily  seen  and  contrasted.  The  healthy 
and  vigorous  and  ckan  and  keen  are  drilling;  the  dis- 
eased and  dirty  and  broken-down  and  idle  are  lying 
about  on  the  grass,  looking  on,  smoking,  and,  doubt- 
less, jeering  in  their  hearts.  These  last  we  shall  keep, 
while  those  are  soon  going  across  the  sea.  Exactly 
the  same  process  has  been  going  on  among  the  armies 
beside  which,  or  against  which,  they  are  to  fight.  No 
matter  whether  the  system  be  voluntary  or  compul- 
sory, the  result  is  the  same.  Nor  is  it  only  the  fine 
qualities  of  body  that  must  be  sacrificed  to  war;  fine 
qualities  of  mind  are  demanded  too.  The  coward  may 
stay  at  home,  either  by  not  volunteering  or  by  pre- 
tending to  be  ill  when  he  is  not.  On  the  Continent 
of  Europe  many  a  man  purposely  injures  himself,  or 
shams  illness,  in  order  to  escape  military  service.  The 
patriot,  the  man  who  loves  his  country  —  whichever 
country  it  be  —  and  would  die  for  what  he  believes  to 
be  her  freedom  and  good  name,  goes  and  dies  indeed; 
but  he  who  cares  only  for  his  own  skin  will  stay  be- 
hind if  he  can.  So  he  whom  we,  or  any  country,  could 
most  spare  is  left  to  us,  along  with  the  deaf  and  blind, 
the  consumptive  and  crippled.  Clearly  it  is  a  bad 
business. 

But  it  is  vastly  worse  tlian  at  first  appears,  and 
history  proves  it  to  be  so.  There  is  a  fact  of  life  called 
heredity,  which  most  dreadfully  asserts  itself  in  this 
case.     In  consequence  of  heredity,  which  means  that 


APPENDIX  225 


we  are  all  largely  dependent  upon  what  our  ancestors 
were  for  what  we  can  be,  the  future  of  any  race  de- 
pends upon  the  quality  of  those  who  become  its  fathers 
and  mothers.  .  ,  . 

None  of  the  champions  of  war,  who  declare  that 
peace  corrodes  and  ruins  nations,  have  thought  about 
the  matter  deeply  enough  to  learn  that  the  argument 
they  quote  is  the  most  fatal  of  all  to  their  own  horrible 
creed.  For  the  truth  is  that  war  involves  what  real 
students  of  this  subject  call  "  reversed  selection  " — 
in  which  the  best  are  chosen  to  be  killed,  and  the  worst 
are  preserved  to  become  the  fathers  of  the  future. 

B.     MILITARY  TRAINING  IN  THE 
SCHOOLS 

E.  Adair   Impey,   of  Dunfermline,   Scotland. 

Mr.  Impey  {Military  Training  Considered  as  a 
Part  of  General  Education)  divides  the  details  of  such 
training  into  nine  heads,  the  qualities  of  each  being 
briefly  stated  as  follows:     (See  pages  105  and  106.) 

I.  First  and  foremost  in  importance  is  put  the  cul- 
tivation of  a  "  soldierly  spirit."  In  so  far  as  this 
means  capacity  to  bear  fatigue,  privation,  and  danger 
cheerfully,  little  can  be  said  against  it,  except  that  in 
elementary  schools,  at  least,  there  is  usually  enough 
privation  without  arranging  for  it  in  the  curriculum; 
and  that  the  bearing  of  fatigue  and  danger,  as  well  as 
the  capacity  to  act  in  combination,  seem  more  naturally 
fostered  and  cheaply  brought  about,  at  school  age,  by 
organized  games  than  by  practicing  imitation  war- 
fare. In  so  far  as  the  "  soldierly  spirit  "  implies  im- 
plicit obedience  to  superiors,  under  all  circumstances, 


226  APPENDIX 


without  the  guiding  of  individual  conscience  and  under 
fear  of  punishment,  it  is  wholly  anti-educational,  re- 
pressing the  personality  instead  of  "  leading  it  out," 
and  stultifying  initiative. 

2.  Instruction  in  Camp  Duties,  acquisition  of  clean- 
liness, smartness,  etc.  All  that  can  be  learnt  in  camp- 
life  is  admirably  suited  to  enter  into  an  educational 
scheme;  for  it  allows  of  the  simultaneous  cultivation 
of  self-reliance  and  mutual  helpfulness.  It  is  educa- 
tion by  living  —  not  by  talking  —  but  in  its  essence 
this  is  not  military,  nor  does  it  need  any  help  from 
military  authority  to  be  carried  out  effectively,  as  boys' 
camps  of  all  sorts  have  already  shown. 

3.  Gymnastics.  The  War  Office  now  recommend 
Swedish  Educational  gymnastics,  about  which  some- 
thing must  be  said  in  order  that  the  argument  may  be 
complete.  Their  manual  of  physical  training  is  simply 
an  addition  to  the  growing  literature  on  the  subject. 
It  has  no  military  bias,  the  exercises  are  selected  and 
designed  for  their  effects  on  the  body,  so  that  all  the 
organs  may  be  kept  in  a  state  of  vigor  and  health, 
capable  of  performing  the  work  required  of  them. 
Training  for  the  two  sides  of  the  body  is  equal,  it  is 
adaptable  to  individual  capacity,  and  in  every  inherent 
aspect,  progressive.  Almost  every  movement  occasions 
an  exertion  of  will-power,  and  in  this  and  other  ways 
the  system  is  well  calculated  to  give  the  boy  and  girl  a 
physical  consciousness  of  his  or  her  own  body  and  a 
well-developed  power  of  controlling  it.  It  cannot  but 
infuse  a  sense  of  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  human 
body,  a  glory  in  it  and  reverence  for  it,  which  should 
make  the  notion  of  planning  its  destruction  intolera- 
ble. 

4.  Infantry  training  consists  of  saluting,  parading, 


APPENDIX  227 


squad  drill,  shouldering,  sloping  arms,  etc.  The  move- 
ments involved,  in  so  far  as  they  are  separable  from 
pure  gymnastics,  fall  short  of  all  the  purposes  of  scien- 
tific physical  education.  They  are  not  selected  for  any 
good  effect  they  have  on  the  body  locally  or  as  a  whole ; 
they  cannot  be  shown  to  improve  either  the  structure  or 
function  of  the  respiratory,  circulatory,  or  nervous 
systems,  etc.  They  exercise  one  side  of  the  body  more 
than  the  other;  they  comprise  an  unalterable  and  com- 
plete set  of  movements,  incapable  of  adaptation  to  age 
or  individual  limits;  and  cannot  be  graded  step  by 
step,  in  difficulty  of  performance  or  in  quality  of  effect, 
as  is  essential  to  any  true  educational  exercise.  Though 
well  defined  as  to  time  and  space,  they  soon  become 
completely  mechanical,  and  fail  even  to  occasion  an 
exertion  of  will-power.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
physical  education  their  value  is  nil ;  for  effective  firing 
on  an  enemy  they  are  no  doubt  essential. 

5.  Marching  in  companies  and  running  practice  may 
be  innocent  enough.  Considered  as  muscular  move- 
ments, they  are  both  elaborate  reflex  actions,  and  as 
such  lack  the  mentally  educative  effect  of  many  other 
kinds  of  movement,  and  do  not  justify  much  time  be- 
ing spent  on  them.  Continuous  marching  certainly 
trains  the  powers  of  endurance,  and  running  especially 
must  be  looked  upon  as  physically  educating  to  the 
heart  and  lungs,  so  long  as  it  is  not  overdone.  But  the 
growing  heart  and  organism  of  the  youth  are  much 
more  fitting  to  make  sudden  frequent  and  even  vio- 
lent efforts  than  prolonged  steady  effort.  What  is  ac- 
tually intended  under  this  section  is,  however,  to  pro- 
duce the  prolonged  steady  effort  necessary  for  rapid 
and  distance  marching.  These  may  not  be  injurious 
to  the  well-fed   and   fully-grown   recruit,   but  to  the 


228  APPENDIX 


growing  and  promiscuously-fed  or  under-fed  boy,  the 
result  can  but  be  exhausting  and  devitalizing,  if  it  fall 
short  of  actual  heart-strain. 

6.  Musketry  instruction.  Aiming  and  firing  are  ex- 
cellent hand-and-eye  training,  and  as  such  might  have 
real  educative  value,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the 
nerve  mechanisms  associated  with  hand-and-eyework  are 
ripening  to  their  full  development  at  a  much  earlier 
age  than  that  at  which  a  child  can  be  expected  to  hold 
a  musket.  Aiming  and  hitting,  catching  and  throw- 
ing, have  unquestionably  been  foremost  among  the  ac- 
tivities which  have  developed  and  maintained  the  hu- 
man race,  and  on  this  account  might  well  receive  more 
attention  than  they  do  in  the  planned  school-life  of 
the  boy  and  girl.  If  only  our  military  enthusiasts  could 
be  persuaded  to  increase  and  improve  the  opportunities 
for  hand-and-eye  training  in  the  lower  departments 
of  the  schools,  how  much  less  time  and  money  would 
have  to  be  spent  on  training  the  recruits  to  shoot 
straight!  According  to  the  War  Office,  the  rifle  is  by 
far  the  most  deadly  of  all  weapons,  accounting  for  85 
per  cent,  of  all  deaths  in  battle,  in  recent  wars.  Rifle- 
practice  therefore  must  be  acknowledged  paramount 
in  an  education  for  man-killing,  but  as  hand-and-eye 
training  it  is  too  elaborate,  too  costly,  and  of  necessity 
comes  too  late,  to  have  any  school  value. 

7.  Visual  training  and  judging  distance  are  useful 
factors  in  everyday  life,  and  are  perfectly  well  acquired 
in  field  games,  by  such  things  as  "  lining  out,"  keeping 
one's  place  in  the  field,  watching  the  flight  of  the  ball, 
etc.,  as  well  as  in  swimming,  diving,  and  all  forms  of 
jumping  sports. 

8.  Night-operations.    As  it  is  probable  that  even  the 


APPENDIX  229 


War  Office  would  exempt  school-children  from  drills  at 
night,  this  section  need  not  be  discussed. 

9.  Bayonet  fighting:  This  as  training  to  kill  may 
be  excellent,  but  as  general  physical  bodily  exercise  it  is 
very  poor.  It  consists  of  two  forms  of  thrust,  a  parry  to 
either  side,  a  stroke  with  the  butt  of  the  rifle,  and  va- 
rious forms  of  tripping  an  opponent.  The  movements 
are  restricted,  without  variety,  and  ugly;  they  produce 
neither  the  grace  nor  skill  of  single-stick  and  fencing. 
Fencing  we  advocate  as  good  all-round  exercise,  calling 
for  work  from  every  muscle  and  most  finely  coordi- 
nated nervous  work  too.  Since  the  combat  is  single, 
extreme  mental  alertness  and  physical  agility  are 
needed  and  produced  in  maneuvering  for  openings  to 
thrust,  and  in  parrying  a  great  variety  of  possible  at- 
tacking strokes.  Bayonet  fighting,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  always  carried  out  in  close  lines,  and  at  the  charge, 
so  that  it  is  not  possible,  nor  permitted,  to  maneuver 
for  openings  to  thrust.  Alertness  and  agility  are  at  a 
discount,  for  the  success  of  the  strokes  depends  on  the 
momentum  with  which  they  are  delivered  rather  than 
on  skill,  and  it  is  hard  to  see  any  higher  physical  value 
in  their  practice  than  the  cultivation  of  well-directed 
brute-force.  .  .  . 

Roughing  it,  cooking  and  eating  rather  unappetizing 
food,  sleeping  out  of  doors,  are  all  character-forming. 
Tree  climbing  and  obstacle  scaling,  swimming  and 
rescuing,  scouring  and  scouting,  train  the  mental  and 
physical  faculties  in  a  way  which  cannot  be  done  in 
the  school  and  make  the  school  child  resourceful,  fear- 
less and  fit  in  himself,  a  thousand  times  more  helpful 
and  unselfish  at  home. 


230  APPENDIX 


C.    MILITARY  SERVICE  IN  GERMANY 

Oswald  Garrison  Villard. 

In  a  chapter  on  Militarism  and  Democracy  in  Ger- 
many,^ Mr.  Oswald  Garrison  Villard  describes  the 
effect  of  military  service  on  the  people  who  have  car- 
ried this  service  to  the  highest  degree  of  perfection. 
From  this  work,  the  following  paragraphs  are  con- 
densed.     (See  pages  40,  41,  etc.,  and   loi.) 

It  is  claimed  that  German  militarism  is  one  and 
indivisible  with  German  culture.  "  Without  it,"  say 
the  German  professors,  "  our  culture  would  long  since 
have  been  wiped  off  the  earth."  It  is  also  lauded  as 
a  democratic  institution,  as  well  as  having  been  at  this 
very  hour  the  salvation  of  Germany,  beset  by  the  troops 
of  half  the  world,  yet  carrying  on  the  war  on  the  soil 
of  other  peoples. 

Like  the  nation,  the  German  army  is  curiously  two- 
sided,  for  it  is  both  a  democracy  and  an  autocracy, 
with  the  autocracy  on  top.  It  is  a  democracy  because 
within  its  regiments  are  men  of  every  rank  and  caste, 
of  every  degree  of  learning  and  every  degree  of  poverty 
and  wealth.  It  is  democratic  because  it  is  compulsory 
and  because  it  spares  none.  No  amount  of  pull  or 
power  can  free  a  German  from  his  year  or  more  of 
service.  Thus  when  the  call  to  arms  came  on  the 
4th  of  August,  it  was  literally  an  uprising  of  the  peo- 
ple. Men  of  every  class  went  forth  singing  to  die. 
Barriers  of  all  kinds  were  leveled.  In  the  enthusiasm 
of  that  tremendous  hour  caste  and  rank  were,  for  the 

1  Germany  Embattled,  a  Neiv  Interpretation,  by  Oswald 
Garrison  Villard.     Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1915. 


APPENDIX  231 


moment,  forgotten.  The  entire  citizenship  was  drawn 
together  by  the  leveling  influence  of  devotion  to  a  single 
cause.  For  the  moment  all  Germany  was  a  democ- 
racy. Democratic  were  the  forces  that  stormed  Liege 
and  swept  like  irresistible  gray-green  waves  of  the  sea 
through  Brussels,  until  they  were  nearly  in  sight  of  the 
defenses  of  Paris. 

There  is  no  discrimination  among  regiments  when 
the  war  is  on.  Whatever  the  prestige  of  the  regiment 
in  time  of  peace,  it  meets  with  no  other  consideration 
than  that  of  the  most  plebeian  infantry  when  the  fight 
is  under  way.  The  German  army  enforces,  so  its  ad- 
herents claim,  a  fine  standard  of  personal  conduct,  of 
physical  vigor  and  of  loyalty  to  King  and  country 
throughout  the  nation.  It  takes  the  humblest  conscript 
however  ignorant  and  lacking  in  self-respect  and  turns 
him  out  a  decent  healthy  citizen  with  fine  physique, 
excellent  carriage,  inured  to  heavy  burdens,  long 
marches  and  absolute  obedience. 

The  great  lesson  of  subordination  to  authority  is 
thus  learned  and  its  methods  are  applied  just  as  rigor- 
ously to  the  son  of  a  millionaire  or  an  aristocrat.  A 
genuine  comradeship  with  men  in  all  walks  of  life 
springs  up,  and  with  it  the  ability  to  feel  as  a  German, 
to  think  in  terms  of  the  nation  whose  patriotic  songs 
one  and  all  sing  as  they  march,  for  singing  is  a  wise 
requirement  of  the  German  military  training.  The 
wonderful  machine  leaves  its  impress  on  all  those  who 
for  a  time  are  its  cogs.  To  this  is  attributed  some  of 
the  unequaled  efficiency  to  which  the  nation  owes  its 
extraordinary  rise  and  prosperity.  The  army  is  re- 
garded as  a  vital  part  of  the  German  system  of  educa- 
tion. 


232  APPENDIX 


But  to  all  this  there  is  another  side.  It  is  hard  to 
conceive  of  a  closer  corporation  or  a  more  autocratic 
body  than  the  German  General  Staff.  It  is  the  army 
to  which  it  gives  the  dominating  note.  It  is  a  group 
of  aggressive,  hard-working,  exceptionally  able  officers, 
envied  by  soldiers  the  world  over  because  the  nation 
does  exactly  as  they  tell  it.  To  question  the  Gen- 
eral Staff  would  be  like  questioning  the  Deity.  The 
General  Staff  having  declared  that  it  was  necessary  to 
invade  Belgium,  nobody  doubts  that  fact.  One  may 
start  controversies  over  sacred  theology  in  the  Kaiser's 
domains,  but  not  one  as  to  the  all-embracing  wisdom 
of  the  General  Staff,  for  on  that  there  have  never 
been  two  opinions  since  1866  up  to  the  time  of  this 
writing.  Every  officer  must  subscribe  fervently  to  the 
overbearing  pretensions  of  the  military  clique,  to  the 
autocratic  attitude  of  the  army  toward  the  civilian 
and  the  nation.  They  must  carry  themselves  as  mem- 
bers of  an  exalted  caste  where  adoration  of  their  uni- 
form borders  on  pagan  worship. 

In  brief,  the  army  is  a  narrow  caste  with  professional 
ideals  of  a  mediaeval  character  scrupulously  maintained 
in  the  face  of  modern  progress.  Anything  that  smacks 
of  democracy  is  anathema.  The  army  is  the  chief 
pillar  of  the  great  landlords,  the  Junker  and  the  aristo- 
crats as  it  is  of  the  throne.  The  aristocratic  nature 
of  the  army  is  not  affected  by  the  bourgeois  antecedents 
of  some  of  the  officers.  Many  a  man  of  plainest  lineage 
may,  if  he  is  a  good  soldier,  rise  to  high  rank.  To  do 
this  he  must  have  married  or  inherited  money,  for  no 
officer  lives  on  his  pay. 

Democracy  does  not  flourish  in  continental  barracks. 
German  discipline  is  as  unyielding  as  iron.  Brutal 
officers  can  make  existence  a  hell  for  any  man  they  do 


APPENDIX  233 


not  like.  The  number  of  suicides  runs  high.^  The 
presumption  is  always  in  favor  of  authority.  The 
forms  of  abuses  practiced  in  the  German  army  exhibit 
great  variety.  .  .  . 

When  Rosa  Luxemburg,  the  fiery  Socialist  orator, 
declared  at  Freiburg  last  year  (1914),  in  speaking  of 
the  case  of  a  horribly  abused  soldier  at  Metz:  "  It  is 
certainly  one  of  those  dramas  which  are  enacted  day 
in  and  day  out  in  German  barracks,  although  the 
groans  of  the  actors  seldom  reach  our  ears,"  General 
von  Falkenhayn,  as  war  minister,  prosecuted  the  "  Red 
Rosa  "  for  libeling  the  army.  The  case  was  promptly 
dropped  when  her  counsel  announced  that  they  pro- 
posed to  call  one  thousand  and  thirty  eye-witnesses  to 
such  wrong-doing,  mostly  in  the  form  of  "  slaps  in 
the  face,  punches  and  kicks,  beating  with  sheathed 
sabers  and  bayonets,  with  riding-whips  and  harness 
straps;  forcible  jamming  of  ill-set  helmets  on  the 
wearer's  head ;  compulsory  baths  in  icy  water,  followed 
by  scrubbing  down  with  scrub-brushes  until  the  blood 
ran;  compulsory  squatting  in  muscle-straining  attitudes 
until  the  victim  collapsed  or  wept  for  pain ;  unreason- 
able fatigue  drill,  and  so  on.  There  were  also  abun- 
dant cases  of  absurd  and  humiliating  punishments  in- 
flicted by  non-commissioned  officers,  such  as  turning 
the  men  out  of  bed  and  making  them  climb  to  the 
top  of  cupboards,  or  sweep  out  the  dormitory  with 
tooth-brushes."  Now,  single  men  in  barracks  are 
never  plaster  saints,  as  Kipling,  the  exalter  of  British 
militarism  and  hater  of  German  militarism,  has  made 
it  quite  clear  to  us.  Sporadic  cases  of  abuse  happen  in 
our  own  American  barracks;  but  no  one  will,  it  is  to  be 

2  Said  to  average  one  a  day,  for  some  time  before  the  war. 
D.  S.  J. 


234  APPENDIX 


hoped,  assert  that  in  this  phase  of  its  existence  the  Ger- 
man army  even  faintly  suggests  a  democracy. 

.  .  .  Not  that  the  other  type  of  officer  is  lacking. 
As  the  writer  knows  by  personal  experience,  there  are 
plenty  of  kindly,  gifted,  and  charming  officers  who 
are  neither  fire-eaters  nor  war-worshipers,  who  write 
no  jingo  books  and  do  not  subscribe  to  Bernhardi. 
They  despise  the  intrigues,  the  narrowness,  and  fre- 
quent immorality  of  the  small  garrison,  and  the  dissi- 
pation of  life  in  the  big  cities.  They  recognize  the 
mediaeval  character  of  the  code  of  honor,  but  they  are 
helpless  to  change  it,  and  as  they  grow  older  the  more 
ready  they  are  to  think  an  intense  militarism  the  nor- 
mal condition  of  society.  If  there  are  many  officers 
of  this  type,  particularly  in  the  south  German  armies, 
the  trend  is,  however,  toward  the  overbearing  arro- 
gance of  the  Von  Reuters,  which  is  again  merely  saying 
that  militarism  unchecked  and  unsubordinated  to  civ- 
ilian control  will  run  to  excesses  everywhere. 

D.     MILITARY  SERVICE  IN  FRANCE 

Albert  Leon  Guerard. 

(Our  best  account  of  military  discipline  from  the  stand- 
point of  an  intelligent  conscript  is  that  furnished  me  in  a 
private  letter  ^  by  my  friend  and  colleague,  Professor  Al- 
bert Leon  Guerard.     See  pages  loi   and   151.) 

I  served  309  days  —  we  counted  them  from  the 
very  first,  and  shouted  every  morning  "  Encore  tant  et 
la  fuite!" — as  second-class  private  in  the  129th  regi- 

^  Printed  with  the  author's  permission  in  the  Popular 
Science  Monthly  for  April,   1911. 


APPENDIX  235 


ment  of  the  line,  stationed  at  Le  Havre.  I  was  paid 
one  cent  a  day,  and  in  addition  was  entitled,  every 
ten  days,  to  a  packet  of  tobacco  at  half  its  market 
value.  That  was  in  1903-04,  under  the  old  (1889) 
law.  University  students,  teachers,  artists,  artisans 
and  craftsmen  (ouvriers  d'art),  ministers  and  men 
having  a  family  to  support  {soutiens  de  famille)  had 
to  serve,  nominally  one  year,  practically  ten  months. 
The  rest  —  two  thirds  of  the  contingent  —  served 
three  years.  Any  one  mentally  or  bodily  deficient  was 
totally  exempted.  At  present,  the  universal  term  of 
service  is  two  years,  without  exception.  Many  of  the 
halt  and  maimed,  formerly  totally  excused,  are  em- 
ployed in  office  work  or  in  the  repair  shops,  which 
offer  a  sorry  sight.  Candidates  for  the  priesthood 
were  for  a  while  placed  in  the  regular  troops.  Now 
they  serve  in  the  ambulance  corps,  as  do  a  few  deter- 
mined Tolstoians  who  stubbornly  refused  to  touch  a 
weapon. 

My  impressions  of  the  army  were  unfavorably  col- 
ored, for  several  reasons,  and  my  testimony  is  open 
to  discount.  First  of  all,  I  was  a  widow's  only  son, 
and  was  brought  up  very  strictly  by  my  mother.  Then, 
the  Dreyfus  case  was  hardly  over  at  that  time  (it  was 
before  the  second  "  revision,"  and  the  final  triumph 
of  justice),  and  for  the  last  four  or  five  years  I  had 
been  an  enthusiastic  Dreyfusist  and  attended  number- 
less antimilitarist  meetings.  I  found  myself  among 
workmen  from  the  mills  of  Elbeuf  and  Rouen.  Nor- 
mandy is  a  fine  country,  and  the  race  that  lives  there 
still  offers  splendid  specimens.  But  it  is  rapidly  be- 
ing ruined  by  an  evil  greater  than  militarism  —  alco- 
holism; alcoholism  to  a  degree  which  I  as  a  Parisian 


236  APPENDIX 


did  not  dream  of.  Children  seemed  to  be  brought  up 
on  "Calvados"  (cider  brandy).  The  result  can  be 
imagined. 

Finally  I  was  stationed  at  Le  Havre,  the  second 
seaport  in  France.  The  barracks  rose  right  on  the 
quays,  and  I  could  see  in  all  its  hideousness  the  gross  im- 
morality which  prevails  in  all  shipping  centers.  On 
the  very  first  day,  our  sergeant  carefully  explained  to 
us  when  to  go  to  the  brothels  (on  the  day  of  sanitary 
inspection),  and  how  to  tell  a  diseased  woman.  I  re- 
ceived a  shock  which  I  remember  clearly  to  this  day. 
Yet  the  fault  lay  not  with  militarism,  but  with  social 
conditions.  These  being  granted,  our  sergeant's  elo- 
quence was  to  the  point ;  and  there  was  some  advantage 
in  my  being  compelled  to  realize  "  how  the  other  half 
lives." 

All  educated  conscripts,  serving  one  year,  were  seg- 
regated, and  had  to  study  for  becoming  reserve  offi- 
cers. I  wanted  most  particularly  at  that  time  not  to 
become  an  officer,  even  in  the  reserve.  So  I  did  not 
go  in  with  the  special  company  of  dispenses,  but  re- 
mained with  the  "  skimmed  milk."  The  social  and 
intellectual  level  among  the  dispenses  must  have  been 
much  higher.  I  am  not  so  positive  about  the  moral 
level.  They  were  kept  more  busy,  had  more  intelli- 
gent work  to  do,  and  their  instructors  —  officers  and 
non-coms  —  were  picked  men.  But  I  had  the  advan- 
tage of  seeing  more  of  the  real  thing.  I  did  not  suffer 
in  the  least  from  my  position.  The  fact  that  I  was 
the  only  educated  conscript  left  in  the  company  (I  was 
then  twenty-three,  had  spent  two  years  in  England, 
and  held  a  few  degrees)  was  a  great  advantage.  I 
was  made  instructor  of  the  illiterate  —  three  half- 
witted peasants,  two  of  whom  did  not  even  know  that 


APPENDIX  237 


France  was  a  republic.  I  gathered  a  library  of  600 
volumes  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers.  I  coached  my 
sergeant  major  for  an  examination.  Thus  I  had  con- 
genial work  instead  of  the  usual  fatigue  duties  (clean- 
ing the  room,  etc.),  and  after  a  few  weeks  of  gradual 
adaptation  I  had  a  fairly  pleasant  time  of  it. 

From  the  material  standpoint,  life  in  the  army  is 
on  a  higher  level  than  the  lowest  among  the  poor 
(leaving  out  the  destitute),  although  not  quite  up  to 
the  average.  My  terms  of  comparison  are  the  Lon- 
don slums,  on  the  one  hand  (I  spent  a  year  at  Toynbee 
Hall  in  Whitechapel),  and  on  the  other  hand,  the 
conditions  which  prevail  among  ordinary  working  peo- 
ple —  my  neighbors  and  acquaintances  —  in  Paris. 
Food  is  coarse  and  monotonous  (boiled  beef  every 
morning),  prepared  in  bulk  by  unskilled  cooks,  but  it 
is  abundant,  and  cleaner  than  the  fare  afforded  by 
cheap  restaurants.  I  tried  the  canteens,  the  non-coms' 
mess  (by  special  privilege)  and  the  popular  eating- 
houses  near  the  barracks,  and  went  back  in  disgust  to 
the  plain,  wholesome  regimental  beef.  Cleanliness  is 
enforced  in  an  unpleasant,  rough,  but  efficient  way; 
hair  cropt  short,  frequent  hot  shower  baths  (thirty  in 
a  room  at  times!),  sea-bathing  in  the  spring,  on  a 
beach  of  brick  bats  and  tin  cans;  walls  kept  white- 
washed and  coal-tarred;  lavatories  disgustingly  primi- 
tive, but  disinfected  every  day.  Our  captain  "  took 
pride  "  in  the  feet  of  his  company,  and  inspected  them 
repeatedly.  The  amount  of  work  was  not  excessive 
for  any  but  weaklings  —  soon  weeded  out  and  put  to 
sedentary  work;  it  was  generally  hard  and  prolonged 
enough  to  prevent  habits  of  laziness  from  being  formed. 
On  the  whole,  a  very  unpleasant  experience  for  any 
person  of  fastidious  tastes  and  habits;  tolerable  for 


238  APPENDIX 


healthy  individuals  of  an  adaptable  tjpe;  satisfactory 
for  the  great  majority. 

From  the  moral  point  of  view,  the  question  is  more 
complex.  I  no  longer  hold,  as  I  did  in  the  fever  of 
my  Dreyfusism,  that  the  army  is  the  school  of  all  the 
vices.  Such  exaggerated  statements  would  harm  the 
best  cause.  The  indictment  may  have  been  true  of 
the  old  professional  army,  recruited  exclusively  from 
the  lowest  strata,  and  entirely  separated  from  the  rest 
of  the  nation.  Yet  I  have  known  veterans  of  the  sec- 
ond empire  who  were  simple-minded,  honest,  kindly, 
delightful  old  fellows.  A  regiment  is  not  much  worse 
than  a  big  factory.  Factory  life  in  Europe  is  bad 
enough;  military  service  extends  its  evils  to  agricul- 
tural laborers,  and  also  to  men  who  would  otherwise 
have  escaped  these  lowering  influences.  As  for  traces 
of  moral  uplift  in  the  army,  I  have  totally  failed  to 
notice  any.  War  may  be  a  stern  school  of  virtue: 
barrack  life  is  not.  Honor,  duty,  patriotism  are  feel- 
ings instilled  at  school;  they  do  not  develop,  but  often 
deteriorate,  during  the  term  of  compulsory  service. 
Daily  drudgery  deadens  enthusiasm.  That  is  prob- 
ably why  so  many  French  Nationalistes  tried  to  dodge 
the  law  and  shirk  their  military  duty,  in  order  to  re- 
tain their  patriotic  feelings  intact. 

The  first  evil  of  military  life  is  that  young  men  are 
transplanted  away  from  home,  and  no  provision  made 
for  sane,  wholesome  entertainment.  Military  clubs 
have  greatly  developed  of  late.  They  are  still  too 
few,  and  so  "  philanthropic  "  in  character  as  to  frighten 
most  men  away.  A  soldier  is  free  every  evening 
after  five.  This  would  be  dangerous  for  most  young 
workmen,  who  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  their 
leisure  hours.     The  absence  of  any  home  circle  makes 


APPENDIX  239 


it  much  worse.  For  a  long  time  the  principle  was  to 
send  young  recruits  as  far  as  possible  from  their  place  of 
residence.  The  idea  was  to  break  down  local  differ- 
ences, to  prevent  the  army  from  siding  with  the  popula- 
tion in  case  of  political  or  social  conflict  (the  brief 
mutiny  of  a  southern  regiment  at  the  time  of  the  wine- 
growers' riots  in  1907  shows  that  this  is  a  real  danger), 
and  to  foster  the  old  spirit  of  exclusive  loyalty  to  the 
flag.  Now,  the  contrary  principle  of  local  (regional) 
recruiting  has  been  adopted,  with  a  view  to  more  rapid 
"  mobilization,"  and  also  under  the  pressure  of  public 
opinion.  Even  then,  it  was  impossible  for  most  soldiers 
to  go  home  oftener  than  once  a  month.  Uneducated 
young  men,  friendless  and  idle,  turned  loose  in  the  eve- 
ning in  a  big  city,  could  do  little  good.  There  were  cer- 
tainly temptations  to  drunkenness  and  debauchery 
greater  than  those  which  would  assail  the  regular  work- 
ing man.  And  unfortunately  the  repressive  measures 
were  a  farce.  The  non-commissioned  officers,  so  strict 
about  trifles,  sympathized  with  the  drunkards  and 
shielded  them,  and  the  penalties  were  so  severe  that  the 
officers  themselves  often  preferred  to  close  their  eyes. 
The  old  ideal  of  the  eighteenth  century  soldier,  "  le  vin, 
I'amour  et  le  tabac"  remains  unchanged  to  this  day. 
Home-sickness,  chiefly  among  peasants,  the  squalor  and 
monotony  of  barrack  life  among  clerks  and  even  stu- 
dents, often  lead  to  a  sort  of  dull  despair,  which  seeks 
relief  in  drink  (sometimes  in  suicide,  too — there  are  oc- 
casional epidemics).  On  the  evening  of  July  14,  there 
were  hardly  half  a  dozen  men  sober  in  the  whole  com- 
pany of  a  hundred. 

The  officers  had  no  moralizing  influence.  The  su- 
perior officers  were  seldom  seen  and  greatly  feared. 
The  subalterns  (captains  and  lieutenants)  belonged  to 


240  APPENDIX 


three  groups :  ( i )  A  few  clever,  ambitious  young  men. 
These,  all  too  rare  anyway,  scorned  the  routine  of  bar- 
rack life.  They  spent  little  time  with  the  men;  they 
studied,  or  managed  to  be  sent  abroad  or  in  the  colonies 
on  a  mission,  or  served  at  headquarters  and  on  the  gen- 
eral staff.  (2)  A  large  group  of  young  men  of  means 
and  leisure,  not  a  few  belonging  to  the  old  nobility. 
They  serve  because  it  is  a  family  tradition,  because  a 
man  must  do  something,  because  of  the  social  prestige 
of  the  uniform  —  not  seldom  with  a  view  to  the  larger 
price  which  officers  command  in  the  matrimonial  market 
in  the  form  of  a  dowry.  They  are,  on  the  whole,  ami- 
able, inefficient  and  totally  without  prestige  with  their 
men.  The  old  military  caste,  still  the  backbone  of  the 
German  army,  is  merely  an  uninteresting  survival  in 
France.  Distrusted  by  the  government  on  account  of 
their  royalist  opinions,  without  hope  or  desire  of  reach- 
ing the  highest  positions,  they  give  a  contagious  ex- 
ample of  indifference  and  idleness.  (3)  Men  risen 
from  the  ranks  —  efficient  drill-masters  as  a  rule ;  not 
seldom  kind  with  their  men  in  a  rough  way;  but  often 
coarse,  uncultured,  intellectually  paralyzed  by  twenty 
years  of  garrison  life.  The  pay  is  small,  the  standard 
of  living  set  by  the  officers  of  the  second  group  is  high ; 
plebeian  or  free-thinking  intruders  are  mercilessly 
snubbed.  Silent  or  open  rivalry  of  aristocrats  and  com- 
moners, of  school-trained  and  unschooled  officers ;  a  gen- 
eral spirit  of  uneasiness,  listlessness  and  ennui ;  the  most 
blindly  patriotic  men  not  in  sympathy  with  modern 
France ;  with  all  these  causes  of  division,  officers  as  a 
body  can  have  no  real  influence  on  their  troops. 

As  for  the  non-commissioned  officers,  I  think  that 
Lucien  Descaves's  sordid  and  disgusting  book,  Sous- 
Offsy  does  not  slander  them.     The  pay  is  exceedingly 


APPENDIX  241 


small  (from  twelve  to  thirty  cents  a  day),  the  pros- 
pects of  promotion  not  very  bright,  the  work  not  at- 
tractive to  a  normal,  self-respecting  man.  Only  actual 
failures,  or  men  who  shrink  from  responsibilities  in  civil 
life,  will  take  up  military  service  (in  subordinate  ranks) 
as  a  profession.  Working  men  despise  them  exactly  as 
they  despise  fllunkej's  —  and  they  have  all  the  vices  of 
flunkeys  —  laziness,  arrogance  and  servility.  They  are 
undoubtedly  inferior  to  the  average  foreman  or  head 
clerk.  In  the  army,  authority  is  much  more  absolute, 
obedience  more  strictly  enforced  than  in  civil  life.  An 
act  of  disobedience,  "  talking  back,"  means  not  "  the 
sack,"  but  imprisonment,  the  court  martial,  the  disci- 
plinary companies  of  Africa  or  even  death.  Yet  in  civil 
life  authority  generally  implies  some  degree  of  real  su- 
periority; in  the  army  it  is  often  vested  in  men  fla- 
grantly inferior  to  the  average.  Hence  a  spirit  of  sul- 
len opposition  among  the  soldiers.  The  only  enduring 
bitterness  which  my  passage  in  the  army  left  me  was 
due  to  the  pettiness  and  tyranny  of  these  underlings. 
Yet  I  found  among  them  one  unusually  able  and  well- 
meaning  young  man,  a  sergeant-major  who  died  three 
years  later  as  a  lieutenant. 

The  most  demoralizing  features  in  French  military 
life  are  due  to  an  incontestable  progress  in  the  French 
mind  —  its  gradual  loss  of  faith  and  interest  in  military 
glory.  Henceforth  the  army  is  considered  as  useless, 
dangerous,  a  burden  without  a  compensation.  Authors 
of  school  books  may  be  censured  for  daring  to  print  such 
opinions,  but  the  great  majority  of  the  French  hold 
them  in  their  hearts.  Nay,  there  is  a  prevailing  sus- 
picion among  workingmen  that  the  military  establish- 
ment is  kept  up  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  capitalists, 
and  the  reckless  use  of  troops  in  case  of  labor  conflicts 


242  APPENDIX 


gives  color  to  the  contention.  In  missions,  explora- 
tions, aviation,  rescue  work  and  on  colonial  battlefields, 
the  French  have  shown  the  same  enthusiastic  spirit  as  of 
yore.  But  dreary  barrack  life,  without  a  clear  purpose, 
without  an  ideal,  is  more  than  they  can  bear.  Hence, 
a  universal  spirit  of  indifference  and  laziness ;  the  main 
point  is  to  reach  the  end  of  the  year  without  trouble,  and 
with  the  least  possible  effort  {vulgo  "  tirer  au  flanc"). 
Those  who  succeed  in  shirking  duty  are  admired  and 
envied  as  "  debrouillards."  A  disease  or  an  accident,  if 
not  too  painful,  is  considered  as  a  stroke  of  luck;  it  gives 
a  soldier  a  few  days  of  far-niente.  The  military  doctors 
have  to  exercise  the  closest  scrutiny  on  malingerers  and 
shammers.  To  waste  time  and  to  escape  punishment 
are  the  only  ideals.  There  is  no  incentive  to  good  work. 
In  this  respect  military  life  is  vastly  inferior  to  indus- 
trial life.  Men  who  serve  only  two  years  do  not  aspire 
to  promotion ;  by  working  hard  for  fifteen  months,  they 
could  barely  manage  to  become  sergeants  for  the  remain- 
ing four  or  five.  They  can't  be  turned  out  for  inefficient 
work.  I  believe  the  barracks  were  the  school  in  which 
the  French  working-men,  naturally  industrious  and  con- 
scientious, learned  the  terrible  habit  of  "  Sabotage." 
No  legitimate  superiority  is  recognized  in  any  way. 
Education,  refinement,  cleanliness  —  verbal,  physical 
and  moral  —  are  causes  of  suspicion.  Brute  strength, 
profanity,  capacity  for  strong  drink,  are  titles  to  respect. 
Many  a  workman's  son,  trained  in  technical  schools,  as- 
piring to  better  manners  and  a  higher  ideal  than  those 
of  his  first  associates,  is  during  his  stay  in  the  army 
dragged  down  back  to  his  old  level. 

So  my  general  impression  is  that  the  army  has  on  the 
whole  no  uplifting  influence  whatever;  and  without  be- 
ing so  black  as  it  was  sometimes  painted,  it  has  a  lower- 


APPENDIX  243 


ing  effect  on  all  except  the  very  lowest.  I  must,  how- 
ever, mention  a  few  hopeful  signs  of  transformation, 
which  seem  to  point  to  a  compromise  between  the  army 
and  modern  democracy. 

The  first  is  the  absolute  equalization  of  the  term  of 
service.  Before  1905  the  wealthy  classes  had  either 
escaped  service. altogether  (paying  a  substitute,  or  buy- 
ing themselves  off  directly) ,  or  served  one  year  in  special 
corps  while  the  rest  served  five  or  three.  They  con- 
sistently opposed  the  general  adoption  of  the  one-year 
term  of  service,  which  they  themselves  enjoyed.  Now, 
it  will  be  easier  to  further  reduce  the  term  of  service, 
first  to  one  year,  then  to  six  months.  With  such  reduc- 
tion the  dangers  of  military  life  decrease  (less  idleness, 
more  interest),  while  its  good  features  (as  a  school  of 
citizenship  and  physical  culture)  are  retained. 

2.  For  the  last  ten  years  an  immense  effort  has  been 
made  for  transforming  the  army  into  a  great  educational 
agency.  Le  Temps,  always  opposed  to  any  form  of 
progress,  recently  published  a  skit  in  which  civil  pro- 
fessors in  the  army  (professors  of  civics,  hygiene,  geog- 
raphy, rural  economy,  "  prevoyance,"  etc.),  complained 
that  drills,  marches,  and  manoeuvers  were  interfering 
with  their  teaching.  Nay,  pacifist  lectures  were  at  one 
time  regularly  given  in  French  barracks  (under  General 
Andre).  Of  course  it  would  be  more  sensible  to  spend 
the  money  directly  on  education.  But  the  gradual 
"  humanization  "  of  the  army  is  an  excellent  thing. 

3.  At  the  time  of  the  postal  strikes,  of  the  railroad 
strikes,  of  the  Seine  flood,  the  army  was  called  upon  to 
fulfill  various  duties,  and  did  it  admirably.  There  is 
a  great  danger  in  turning  the  army  into  a  universal 
strike-breaking  corps,  or  a  body  of  "  compulsory  scabs." 
On  the  other  hand,  this  industrial  use  of  the  army  points 


244  APPENDIX 


to  a  mighty  transformation;  the  war  forces  could  be- 
come, as  William  James  intimated,  reserve  forces  of 
peace,  for  great  public  works,  sudden  emergencies,  na- 
tional disasters. 

We  must  look  forward  to  a  gradual  transformation, 
for  militarism  will  not  be  rooted  out  in  one  day.  Costly 
as  it  is,  the  nations  grow  rich  in  spite  of  the  burden. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  France  is  amassing  wealth  at  a 
rapid  rate,  and  fast  becoming  the  banker  of  the  world, 
while  Germany's  progress  is  stupendous.  France's  toll 
on  the  foreigner  (investments  abroad,  and  expenses  of 
tourists)  alone  more  than  pays  for  the  interest  of  the, 
debt,  and  the  cost  of  the  military  establishment.  Con- 
servative papers,  like  Le  Figaro  and  Le  Temps  sound 
notes  of  warning  when  new  educational  or  social  laws 
are  proposed ;  but  when  a  reduction  of  military  expendi- 
ture is  mooted,  they  prove  conclusively  that  the  country 
is  marvelously  prosperous,  and  could  afford  a  few  more 
army  corps  and  a  dozen  super-Dreadnoughts. 

Besides  the  spirit  of  mutual  distrust  which  centuries 
of  hostility  have  fostered,  and  which  the  recent  attitude 
of  Germany  has  revived,  the  strong  point  of  militarism 
remains  its  sentimental  appeal.  Dreary  barrack  life  is 
still  linked  in  popular  imagination  with  the  somber  but 
grandiose  epic  of  ancient  wars.  Men  serve  their  time 
when  they  are  young  and  buoyant,  when  no  hardship  is 
unendurable,  when  even  the  memories  of  unnecessary 
fatigue,  squalor,  petty  tyranny,  are  transfigured  by  the 
general  glow  of  youth  and  hope.  I  for  instance  look 
back  upon  these  days  of  servitude  with  a  sort  of  pleas- 
ure. I  remember  the  fun,  the  marching  at  the  sound  of 
bugles  and  band,  or  singing  away  on  the  highroad ;  the 
mock  guerilla  warfare  around  Norman  farms  in  the 
early  morning ;  the  incontestable  grandeur  of  a  divison  in 


APPENDIX  245 


battle  array.  Soldiering  is  a  pretty  game,  although  mur- 
dering is  an  ugly  business.  It  is  possible  that  wars  may 
be  abolished  generations  before  armies  are  suppressed. 

(Professor  Guerard  adds  the  following  note,  May,  1915.) 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  article  refers  to  the 
conditions  that  prevailed  in  the  French  Army  twelve 
years  ago.  The  revival  of  the  military  spirit,  due  in 
a  minor  degree  to  the  dismal  failure  of  Dreyfusist 
Radicalism,  and  chiefly  to  the  threatening  attitude  of 
Germany,  has  radically  modified  these  conditions. 
For  the  last  few  years,  the  army  and  the  nation  have 
been  one  as  never  before.  So  much  the  worse  for  the 
nation,  but  so  much  the  better  for  the  army.  The 
"  Poilus "  of  1915  have  little  in  common  with  the 
"  tireurs  au  flanc  "  here  described. 

E.    A  DIGRESSION  ON  UNIFORMS  ' 

Alfred  G.  Gardiner. 

So  long  as  the  world  allows  the  Kaisers  and  the 
Caesars  and  the  Napoleons  to  play  with  its  destinies  there 
will  be  war.  I  would  have  no  king  who  wore  a  uniform 
or  pranced  at  the  head  of  soldiers.  The  head  of  a  State 
should  be  its  chief  citizen,  and  he  should  come  on  to  the 
parade  ground  as  the  symbol  of  the  civic  power.  Make 
him  a  soldier  and  he  will  soon  subordinate  the  council 
chamber  to  the  parade  ground.  Give  him  a  uniform, 
gold  epaulettes  and  a  brass  helmet  and  he  will  soon  be- 
gin to  think  of  government  in  the  terms  of  Krupp  and 
Armstrong.  His  diplomacy  will  be  the  diplomacy  not 
of  internal  peace  but  of  external  conquest.  It  will  look 
abroad  rather  than  at  home.  He  will  think  of  his  peo- 
ple not  as  citizens  whom  he  can  serve,  but  as  soldiers 

1  Daily  Neivs   and  Leader,  London. 


246  APPENDIX 


whom  he  can  command,  and  every  art  of  peace,  every 
victory  of  science  will  be  diverted  to  the  purposes  of 
war. 

In  the  black  coat  of  the  President  we  have  the  asser- 
tion that  peace  and  not  war  is  the  goal  of  human  society 
and  that  the  highest  interest  of  the  State  is  the  well- 
being  of  its  people.  The  day  that  the  French  President 
or  the  United  States  President  should  put  on  a  uniform 
to  review  the  Army  would  be  a  day  of  sackcloth  and 
ashes  for  all  who  wish  well  to  those  countries.  Nothing 
but  the  necessity  of  wearing  civilian  clothes  (and  a  lim- 
ited term  of  office)  would  keep  so  perfect  an  example  of 
the  Napoleon  breed  as  Theodore  Roosevelt  from  de- 
veloping dreams  of  world-empire.  Let  France,  after 
this  war,  look  after  its  plain-clothes  President.  He 
will  be  in  imminent  peril. 

F.    THE  QUEEN'S  DAUGHTERS  IN 
INDIAN 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  Circular  Memorandum 
by  the  Quarter-Master  General  in  India,  dated  17th 
June,  1886,  and  said  to  have  the  approval  of  the  Com- 
mander in  chief  (Lord  Roberts).      (See  pp.  111-117.) 

Circular    Memorandum. —  Addressed    to    General 
Officers  Commanding  Divisions  and  Districts. 
Office  of  Quartermaster  General 
In  India, 

Army  Headquarters,  Simla, 

17th  June,  1886. 

In  former  years  His  Excellency,  the  Commander  in 
Chief,  has  frequently  impressed  on  General  and  Com- 

1  From  The  Queen's  Daughters  in  India,  by  Elizabeth  M. 


APPENDIX  247 


manding  Officers  the  necessity  for  adopting  stringent 
measures  to  reduce  the  chances  of  venereal  disease 
spreading  more  widely  amongst  the  soldiers  of  the 
Army. 

At  the  present  time  His  Excellency  desires  me  to  give 
prominence  to  the  following  points  which  appear  to  be 
specially  deserving  of  consideration  by  the  Military  and 
Medical  authorities  in  every  command. 

The  treatment  of  venereal  disease  generally  is  a  mat- 
ter calling  for  special  devotion  on  the  part  of  the  medical 
profession. 

To  mitigate  the  evil  now  experienced,  it  is  not  only 
necessary  to  deal  with  the  cases  of  troops  in  hospitals, 
but  to  arrange  for  a  wider-spread  effort,  which  may 
reach  the  large  centers  of  population,  and,  in  this  view, 
His  Excellency  has  suggested  to  the  Government  of 
India  the  desirability  of  establishing  a  Medical  School 
from  which  native  practitioners  trained  in  the  treatment 
of  venereal  diseases  may  be  sent  to  the  various  towns 
throughout  the  country. 

It  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  derogatory  to  the 
medical  profession  to  promote  the  careful  treatment  of 
men  and  women  who  are  suffering  from  a  disease  so  in- 
jurious, and  in  mentioning  the  step  which  His  Excel- 
lency has  taken,  he  desires  me  to  indicate  the  extreme 
importance  in  the  first  instance  of  medical  officers  be- 
ing prepared  to  study  and  practice  this  particular  branch 
of  their  professional  work,  under  the  assurance  that 
their  doing  so  must  certainly  result  in  the  recognition  of 
their  efforts. 

Whether  or  not  the  Lock  Hospital  system  be  ex- 
Andrew  and  Katherine  C.  Bushnell,  London,  1899.  See  also 
an  article,  "Bella,  Bella,  Horrida  Bella,"  by  F.  J.  Corbet, 
fV estminster  Review,  March,  1903. 


248  APPENDIX 


tended,  it  is  possible  to  encourage  in  every  Cantonment, 
and  in  Sudder  and  Regimental  Bazars,  the  treatment  of 
those  amongst  the  population  who  are  suffering  from 
venereal  disease.  The  bulk  of  the  women  who  prac- 
tice the  trade  of  prostitution  are  willing  to  subject  them- 
selves to  examination  by  Dhais  or  by  Medical  Officers, 
if  by  their  so  doing  they  can  be  allowed  to  reside  in  regi- 
mental bazars. 

Where  Lock  Hospitals  are  not  kept  up,  it  becomes 
necessary,  under  a  regimental  system,  to  arrange  for  the 
effective  inspection  of  prostitutes  attached  to  regimental 
bazars,  whether  in  cantonments  or  on  the  line  of  march. 

The  isolation  of  women  found  diseased,  and  their 
maintenance  while  under  treatment,  becomes  also  a 
question  to  be  dealt  with  regimentally. 

In  the  regimental  bazars  it  is  necessary  to  have  a 
sufficient  number  of  women,  to  take  care  that  they  are 
sufficiently  attractive,  to  provide  them  with  proper 
houses,  and  above  all  to  insist  upon  means  of  ablution 
being  always  available. 

If  young  soldiers  are  carefully  advised  in  regard  to 
the  advantage  of  ablution  and  recognize  that  convenient 
arrangements  exist  in  the  regimental  bazar,  they  may 
be  expected  to  avoid  the  risks  involved  in  association 
with  women  who  are  not  recognized  by  the  regimental 
authorities. 

The  employment  of  Dhais,  and  insistence  upon  the 
performance  of  the  acknowledged  duties,  is  of  great 
importance. 

The  removal  of  women  who  are  pronounced  to  be  in- 
curably diseased  from  cantonment  limits  should  be 
dealt  with  as  a  police  question  in  communication  with 
the  civil  authorities. 

In  regard  to  the  soldiers  themselves,  there  are  means 


APPENDIX  249 


at  the  disposal  of  Commanding  Officers  to  enforce  a 
more  careful  avoidance  of  contact  with  women  who  arc 
diseased.  Where  venereal  disease  is  largely  prevalent, 
the  increase  of  the  regimental  police  in  controlling  the 
movements  of  the  men  is  imperative. 

Frequent  medical  inspection  should  be  ordered,  and 
every  endeavor  should  be  made  to  make  the  men  realize 
their  own  responsibility  in  assisting  their  officers,  by  in- 
dicating the  women  from  whom  disease  has  been  ac- 
quired. 

Much  may  be  done  to  encourage  a  feeling  amongst 
the  men  that  it  should  be  a  point  of  honor  to  save  each 
other  where  possible  from  risk  in  this  matter. 

The  medical  inspection  of  all  detachments  before 
leaving  or  entering  a  cantonment  should  be  enforced  by 
General  Officers. 

In  conclusion.  His  Excellency  desires  me  to  impress 
upon  all  concerned  the  necessity  for  meeting  the  present 
difficulty  by  increased  individual  effort. 

However  much  legislation  may  be  desired  to  check 
the  spread  of  disease,  it  is  necessary  to  abandon  a  sense 
of  false  modesty,  in  dealing  with  the  matter  in  question, 
and  to  recognize  that,  as  in  the  case  of  all  other  diseases, 
its  open  treatment,  and  the  widespread  knowledge  of  its 
disastrous  effects,  are  the  surest  means  of  effacing  it  in 
each  locality. 

(By  Order)  E.  F.  Chapman^ 

Major  General,  Quartermaster  General  in  India. 


250  APPENDIX 


G.    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  SIMPLICIUS 
SIMPLICISSIMUS 

(From  the  ancient  chronicle  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  by  Christopherus  GrimmeU- 
hausen  of  Rechen  in  the  Black  Forest  (1624-1676),  we  take 
the  following  illustrative  paragraphs.  The  translation  is 
by  Dr.  Karl  G.  Rendtorff.     See  page  170.) 

The  first  thing  the  soldiers  did  when  they  had  come 
to  the  house  of  my  master  was  that  they  stabled  their 
horses  right  in  the  rooms.  Then  every  one  of  them  got 
busy  in  his  own  way,  but  whatever  they  undertook 
meant  devastation  and  ruin.  For  although  some  of 
them  began  to  cook  and  to  fry  so  that  it  looked  as 
though  a  gay  and  jolly  feast  was  to  take  place,  there 
were  others  who  searched  every  room  of  the  house  from 
the  cellar  to  the  garret.  Others,  again,  tied  up  bundles 
of  clothing,  linen,  and  all  sorts  of  household  goods  as 
though  they  intended  to  start  a  junkshop ;  but  what 
they  could  not  take  along  was  smashed  and  ruined. 
Some  ran  their  swords  through  the  hay  in  search  of 
hidden  treasures.  Some  shook  the  feathers  out  of  the 
featherbeds  and  filled  the  bags  with  bacon,  dried  meat, 
and  other  things.  Others,  again,  tore  down  the  stove 
and  broke  the  windows.  All  utensils  made  out  of  cop- 
per and  pewter  they  knocked  together  and  packed  up 
the  bent  and  broken  pieces.  The  bedsteads,  tables,  and 
benches  were  burned,  although  many  cords  of  dry  wood 
were  lying  in  the  yard ;  and  all  pots  and  pans  were 
broken.  Our  girl  was  treated  in  the  barn  in  such  a 
way  that  she  could  not  move.  The  farmhand  was  put 
down  on  the  ground  and  a  pail  of  horrible  liquid  dung 
was  forced  into  his  mouth ;  this  they  called  "  giving  him 
a  Swedish  drink."     In  this  way  they  made  him  lead 


APPENDIX  251 


them  to  a  hiding  place  where  they  caught  many  people 
and  many  cattle  and  brought  them  back  to  our  farm. 
Among  the  people  so  caught  was  my  master,  his  wife, 
and  their  daughter. 

Now  they  started  to  take  the  flintstones  from  their 
pistols  and  to  set  the  screws  to  the  thumbs  of  the  farm- 
ers, and  to  torture  the  poor  fellows  as  though  they  had 
been  witches.  One  of  them  they  put  into  the  oven  and 
started  the  fire.  They  placed  a  rope  around  the  head  of 
another  one  and  twisted  it  so  tightly  by  means  of  a  stick 
that  the  blood  came  out  of  his  mouth,  ears,  and  nose. 
In  short,  every  one  had  his  own  way  of  torturing  the 
peasants.  According  to  my  childish  way  of  thinking, 
my  master  was  treated  the  best,  for  he  confessed  with 
laughter  what  the  others  confessed  under  pain  and  with 
the  most  pitiful  lamentations;  and  such  honor  was  be- 
stowed upon  him  beyond  doubt  because  he  was  master 
of  the  house.  He  was  placed  close  to  a  fire,  then  he 
was  bound  so  tight  that  he  could  not  move  hand  or  foot, 
whereupon  they  rubbed  the  soles  of  his  feet  with  wet 
salt  which  our  old  goat  was  made  to  lick  off;  and  this 
tickled  him  so  that  he  almost  burst  with  laughter. 
This  appeared  to  me  so  funny  that  I  laughed  with  all 
my  heart  for  company's  sake,  or  because  I  did  not  then 
know  any  better.  In  such  a  fit  of  laughter,  he  con- 
fessed where  the  hidden  treasure  could  be  found,  which 
proved  to  be  much  richer  in  pearls,  gold  and  jewels  than 
one  should  have  expected,  considering  that  he  was  a 
farmer.  What  happened  to  the  married  women,  their 
daughters,  and  the  girls,  I  cannot  tell  because  the  sol- 
diers would  not  allow  me  to  look  on.  But  I  remember 
very  well  that  one  heard  pitiful  cries,  and  I  guess  that 
my  master's  wife  and  her  daughter  did  not  fare  any  bet- 
ter than  the  rest.     During  all  this  misery,  I  turned  the 


252  APPENDIX 


spit  and  had  no  cares  because  I  did  not  understand  what 
all  this  meant.  During  the  afternoon,  I  helped  to 
water  the  horses,  and  thus  I  happened  to  come  near  the 
girl  in  the  barn,  who  looked  much  dishevelled.  I  did 
not  recognize  her  at  first,  but  she  said  with  a  weak 
voice :  "  Oh,  boy,  run  away,  for  otherwise  the  soldiers 
will  take  you.  See  that  you  get  away ;  you  can  see  how 
terribly  .  .  ."     She  was  unable  to  say  more. 

Simplicissimus,  who  has  been  brought  up  in  the  wil- 
derness, without  any  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  the 
world  and  of  men,  sees  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  sol- 
diers and  peasants  engaged  in  a  savage  fight  in  which  no 
mercy  is  shown.  He  meditates  about  this,  and  comes 
to  the  conclusion  that,  "  There  must  be  two  different 
kinds  of  men  who  have  nothing  in  common,  just  as  there 
are  two  kinds  of  animals,  the  wild  and  the  tame." 

H.    THE  DECLINE   OF  GERMAN  LITERA- 
TURE IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  ' 

Professor  Karl  G.  Rendtorff. 

The  period  from  1 170  to  1230  marks  a  climax  in  the 
development  of  German  culture.  It  was  the  era  of 
the  great  emperors  of  the  Hohenstaufen  dynasty,  the 
age  of  chivalry;  it  was  the  time  when  Germanic  epic 
poetry  found  its  culmination  in  the  Nibelungenlied; 
when  the  court  epic  reached  its  height  in  the  works  of 
Hartmann  von  der  Aue,  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach,  and 
Gottfried  von  Strassburg;  when  the  Minnesong  flour- 
ished and  found  its  loftiest  expression  in  the  exquisite 
songs  of  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide.     In  fact,  the 

1  Here  printed  for  the  first  time.     (See  pages  166  and  167.) 


APPENDIX  253 


freshness  and  strength,  the  imagination  and  idealism,  the 
productiveness  and  perfect  technique  which  characterize 
the  works  of  this  period  have  caused  it  to  be  known  as 
"  the  first  classical  period  of  German  literature." 

This  period  came  to  an  abrupt  end  about  the  year 
1230  and  with  it  the  development  of  German  literature 
received  a  sudden  check.  After  all  this  wealth  of  imag- 
ination and  vigorous  literary  activity  there  followed  a 
period  lasting  almost  three  centuries  the  characteristic 
features  of  which  are  shallow  conventionality  and  ster- 
ility. This  stagnation  cannot  possibly  be  mistaken  for  a 
natural  reaction  which  we  sometimes  observe  after  a 
time  of  great  literary  productiveness,  a  period  of  hiber- 
nations, so  to  speak ;  it  was  too  complete  for  that  and  of 
too  long  duration.  It  was  a  total  standstill.  If  we 
were  to  represent  the  development  of  German  literature 
graphically,  the  period  after  1230  should  be  indicated 
not  by  a  downward  curve  but  by  an  abrupt  drop. 

This  complete  break  in  the  continuity  of  German 
literary  thought  and  life  has.  of  course,  not  failed  to  at- 
tract the  attention  of  the  scholars.  Yet  in  most  cases 
they  have  been  satisfied  with  noting  the  fact;  and,  con- 
sidering the  importance  of  the  phenomenon,  compara- 
tively little  has  been  offered  by  way  of  explanation. 
And  what  little  there  is  does  not  seem  convincing. 

We  have  in  the  main  two  theories  diametrically  op- 
posed to  each  other.  Scherer  (Geschichte  der  deut- 
schen  Litteratur,  p.  231)  holds  that  the  natural  growth 
of  Middle  High-German  poetry  was  thwarted  by  an  ex- 
ternal force,  the  church,  at  a  time  when  it  had  not  yet 
exhausted  its  resources  and  was  capable  of  develop- 
ment along  many  lines.  "  Middle  High-German 
poetry,"  he  argues,  "  did  not  decay  from  within,  but 
was  deprived  of  light  and  air  from  without;  the  old 


254  APPENDIX 


enemy  of  secular  poetry,  the  German  clergy,  commenced 
with  redoubled  power  a  new  attack  which  was  this  time 
successful  and  decisive  for  a  long  period."  This  theory 
meets  with  an  emphatic  denial  in  Bartels'  Geschichte 
der  deutschen  Litteratur,  vol.  I,  p.  56.  Bartels  believes 
that  chivalrous  poetry  died  from  natural  causes  at  a 
time  when  it  had  completely  outlived  itself  and  he  at- 
tributes this  decay  to  the  fact,  "  that  the  time  was  not 
yet  ripe  for  a  revival  of  literature  by  realism  or  by  an 
intelligent  imitation  of  the  classical  models  of  an- 
tiquity." 

It  should  be  stated  here  that  both  Scherer  and  Bartels 
have  contented  themselves  with  merely  presenting  a 
theory,  making  no  attempt  to  prove  it.  And  it  should 
also  be  stated  that  both  of  them,  at  least  in  this  con- 
nection, take  into  consideration  the  literary  develop- 
ment of  Germany  only,  paying  no  attention  to  the  po- 
litical and  economic  conditions  of  the  time. 

Modern  science  has  taught  us  the  futility  of  trying  to 
solve  problems  while  confining  ourselves  to  the  narrow 
limitations  of  one  particular  field  of  work.  A  solution 
of  this  problem  can  only  come  from  a  study  of  its  con- 
nection with  the  development  of  German  civilization  as 
a  whole.  We  cannot  separate  the  literary  life  of  a  peo- 
ple from  its  religious,  political,  and  economic  life; 
we  are  unable  to  interpret  the  literature  of  a  people  un- 
less we  know  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  spiritual 
conditions  which  produced  it. 

What  then  was  the  social  and  intellectual  background 
for  the  poetry  of  this  period? 

German  literature  of  the  so-called  "  first  classical 
period  "  cannot  be  called  the  genuine  expression  of  the 
soul-life  of  the  German  people  for  it  was  confined  al- 
most exclusively  to  one  class  of  the  people ;  it  was  writ- 


APPENDIX  255 


ten  by  and  for  the  small  body  of  knights,  der  Ritter- 
stand.  It  was  a  Standespoesie,  the  literary  expression 
of  the  sentiments  of  one  exclusive  class,  knighthood,  the 
product  of  a  culture  in  which  only  a  comparatively 
small  group  of  the  nation  participated. 

The  predominating  position  held  by  the  knights  in 
the  literary  life  of  the  13th  century  is  a  startling  phe- 
nomenon. There  is  something  incongruous  about  the 
fact  that  the  exponents  of  the  warlike  life  of  the  nation 
should  be  the  only  ones  to  voice  the  poetic  and  literary 
sentiments  of  the  people.  This  fact  can  be  accounted 
for  only  when  we  realize  that  the  Ritterstand  of  that 
time  really  represented  the  pick  and  flower  of  the  Ger- 
man nation,  not  only  physically  but  intellectually  as 
well.  For  the  Ritterstand  had  not  yet  become  the  ex- 
clusive nobility  into  which  it  developed  in  later  times. 
It  still  was  open  to  any  freeman  or  even  serf  who  had 
conspicuously  distinguished  himself  by  deeds  of  physical 
courage  or  by  his  mental  powers. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  a  comprehensive  or  critical 
study  of  the  rather  obscure  origin  of  knighthood.  Yet 
I  wish  to  point  to  a  few  facts  regarding  the  history  of 
knighthood  that  may  help  to  prove  my  assertion  that  it 
was  the  pick  of  the  nation.  Feudal  aristocracy  of  the 
middle  ages  was  the  natural  result  of  two  leading 
classes  of  the  people  growing  into  one,  one  of  them  con- 
spicuous because  of  its  intelligence  and  administrative 
ability,  the  other  one  distinguished  by  its  energy  and 
physical  prowess.  The  first  class  consisted  of  the  so- 
called  "  Ministeriales,"  a  body  of  retainers  about  the 
person  of  the  king  attending  to  the  royal  service  in  high 
and  low  positions.  Because  of  their  official  position  and 
their  ability  they  soon  gained  a  leading  part  in  the  life 
of  the  nation.     They  are  the  forerunners  of  what  still 


256  APPENDIX 


exist  in  Germany  as  Beamtenaristokratie,  they  still  play 
a  predominant  part  in  the  social  and  political  life  of 
Germany.  The  second  are  the  "  Ritter,"  mounted 
troopers  who  devoted  their  life  to  professional  warfare, 
who  came  into  existence  as  a  class  about  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, at  a  time  when  the  old  German  army,  fighting  on 
foot,  and  consisting  of  every  freeborn  German  who 
could  bear  arms,  came  to  be  supplanted  by  an  army  of 
trained  soldiers  fighting  on  horseback.  These  knights 
were  the  old  freeholders,  but  after  about  1150  their 
ever  decreasing  number  was  supplemented  by  serfs  who 
had  won  distinction  by  their  courage.  Both  of  these 
groups  were  alike  in  that  they  received  fiefs  in  payment 
of  their  services  and  so,  in  the  course  of  time,  they  were 
welded  into  one.  They  formed  the  Ritterstand  with 
its  peculiar  Standeskultur  and,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  with  a  Standespoesie  of  their  own.  They  de- 
veloped their  own  code  of  honor,  their  Standesehre, 
and  they  were  supported  by  a  highstrung  selfconscious- 
ness  and  a  firm  belief  in  their  own  value,  their  Standes- 
bewusstsein.  And  yet  they  were  not  altogether  cut  oiif 
from  the  nation  as  a  whole.  Many  of  them  had  still 
recently  risen  from  the  masses  and  the  simple  emotions 
that  swayed  the  man  of  the  common  people  still  ap- 
pealed to  them.  Of  course,  it  is  not  to  be  assumed  that 
all  talent  and  genius  of  the  nation  was  confined  to  this 
one  class,  but  owing  to  the  social  conditions  of  the  time, 
it  was  here  only  that  the  medieval  German  man  had  op- 
portunity for  culture  and  freedom,  that  he  could  find  ex- 
pression for  his  individuality. 

A  very  important  fact  to  be  remembered  in  connec- 
tion with  this  is  that  the  knights  at  that  time  were  the 
only  class  of  the  German  people  who,  separate  from 
and  independent  of  the  church,  had  produced  a  culture 


APPENDIX  257 


of  their  own  and  had,  in  contrast  to  the  pale  asceticism 
of  the  church,  developed  a  healthy  and  natural  concep- 
tion of  life  based  upon  the  national  German  character. 
The  literary  expression  of  this  new  vigorous  attitude  to- 
wards life  is  the  poetry  of'  the  first  classical  period. 
This  poetry  must,  to  some  extent,  be  called  artificial ;  it 
undoubtedly  voices  the  sentiments  of  a  limited  class  of 
the  people  only,  yet  it  is  a  much  truer  expression  of  the 
German  Volksseele  than  we  find  in  the  literature  of  the 
preceding  centuries. 

For  ever  since  Germany  had  been  christianized,  its 
literature  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy  and  had 
only  served  the  needs  of  the  church.  The  duty  assigned 
to  art  in  all  its  phases  was  simply  to  present,  within  nar- 
row limitations,  by  means  of  stereotyped  forms,  the 
teachings  of  the  church.  This  appears  not  only  in  the 
literature  of  that  time  but  also  in  all  art.  The  imagina- 
tion was  fettered  to  subjects  that  had  been  represented 
so  often  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  individual  artist 
to  exercise  originality.  Feeling  was  stifled  under  the 
weight  of  mere  repetition  and  the  Volksseele  of  the 
German  people  found  no  expression  in  art.  But  at  this 
moment  the  Ritterstand  suddenly  came  forward  and 
wrested  the  art  of  poetry  from  the  hands  of  the  clergy. 
The  imagination  which  had  been  suppressed  and  dis- 
torted so  long  seized  upon  and  assimilated  all  the  ma- 
terial which  knighthood  had  gathered  in  foreign  lands, 
in  Italy  and  even  in  the  Orient,  and  where  else  the  fate 
of  war  or  the  crusades  had  taken  them.  It  quickly 
mastered  and  even  improved  upon  the  technique  of  its 
French  models.  And  the  result  is  that  burst  of  glorious 
art  called  "  the  first  classical  period  of  German  litera- 
ture." 

And  now  to  return  to  our  original  question:  why 


258  APPENDIX 


did  all  this  glory  vanish  so  suddenly  and  so  completely? 
Shall  we  believe  that  the  pressure  of  the  church  an- 
nihilated it  or  is  it  true  that  it  had  outlived  itself  and 
died  of  old  age? 

While  having  this  problem  in  mind  I  read  Dt. 
Seeck's  Geschichte  des  Untergangs  der  antiken  Welt 
(vol.  I,  p.  270),  and  I  was  struck  with  the  parallelism 
between  the  intellectual  conditions  existing  in  Greece 
and  Rome  at  the  time  of  their  decay  and  those  found  in 
Germany  towards  the  end  of  the  Hohenstaufen  dynasty, 
a  period  marked  in  Germany  by  the  rapid  decline  of  its 
political  supremacy  and,  in  literature,  by  the  abrupt  end 
of  the  first  classical  period. 

Dr.  Seeck  views  the  matter  not  only  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  historian  but  also  from  that  of  the  biologist 
and  in  this  way  reaches  conclusions  differing  very 
widely  from  those  generally  accepted.  He  recognizes 
that  intellectual  and  moral  qualities  are  transmitted  by 
men  to  their  descendants.  He  attributes  the  downfall 
of  the  ancient  world  not  to  any  physical  degeneration  of 
the  people  but  to  the  intellectual  stagnation  which  was 
due  to  what  he  calls  "die  Ausrottung  der  Besten" 
This  systematic  extermination  of  the  best  was  caused  in 
Greece  as  well  as  in  Rome  by  the  endless  internal  con- 
flicts within  the  nation  in  which  the  nation's  best  blood 
was  drained  and  people  of  less  strength  of  body  and 
mind  lived  to  propagate  the  race.  So  the  Greeks,  whose 
creative  genius  has  furnished  inspiration  for  all  times  to 
come,  rapidly  deteriorated.  Their  originality  of 
thought  disappeared  and  with  it  their  political  prestige. 
In  Rome  the  intellectual  decadence  is  less  striking,  for 
the  Romans  have  never  reached  the  exalted  position  of 
their  more  conspicuously  gifted  neighbors.  Here  the 
decadence  became  more  plainly  discernible  in  the  polit- 


APPENDIX  259 


ical  downfall  of  the  nation.  The  Romans  became  a 
nation  of  cowards  and  the  decadence  set  in  just  at  the 
time  when  the  wholesale  slaughter  of  men  for  political 
reasons  had  begun.  The  lack  of  courage,  so  evident  in 
the  national  life,  is  also  manifest  in  the  decay  of  the  in- 
tellectual life  of  that  period.  For  does  it  not  take  cour- 
age to  produce  a  new  thought?  Is  not  every  great  deed 
in  the  field  of  art  and  science  as  much  a  proof  of  charac- 
ter as  of  talent?  But  of  courage  there  is  no  evidence. 
There  is  stagnation  everywhere.  We  find  the  poet  and 
the  artist  content  with  copying  the  old  models  or  bent  on 
outdoing  the  old  masters  by  means  of  technical  skill, 
striking  motives,  or  rich  adornments.  No  one  dared  to 
enter  upon  new  fields. 

From  Seeck's  study  of  the  downfall  of  the  ancient 
world  the  following  deductions  may  be  drawn:  when- 
ever in  the  course  of  internal  wars  or  revolutions  the 
strong  men  of  a  people  are  systematically  exterminated, 
even  for  a  relatively  short  period,  and  the  propagation  of 
that  race  is  thus  left  to  the  mediocre  and  the  weak,  the 
inevitable  result  will  be  the  degeneration  of  that  people. 
For  the  propagation  of  a  race  is  governed  by  the  same 
inexorable  laws  of  heredity  as  are  those  which  govern 
the  propagation  of  the  individual.  And  this  degenera- 
tion is  bound  to  result  not  only  in  the  political  downfall 
of  that  people  but  will  show  itself  in  its  decadence  in 
the  realm  of  culture.  A  people  hitherto  strong  and 
creative  will  quickly  become  a  race  of  epigones,  weak 
and  decadent,  without  productiveness  and  intellectual 
strength,  at  best  able  to  imitate  the  thoughts  of  their 
stronger  forefathers. 

The  parallelism  between  the  ancient  world  and  Ger- 
many during  the  13th  century  is  easily  drawn.  In 
Greece  and  Rome  as  in  Germany  we  find  culture  con- 


26o  APPENDIX 


fined  to  a  limited  class  of  society.  What  we  would  call 
"  the  people  "  did  not  5^et  contribute  to  this  culture  nor 
were  they  directly  benefited  by  it.  In  Germany  this 
limited  class  of  the  nation  was  represented  by  knight- 
hood, or,  to  be  more  exact,  by  the  knights  of  a  relatively 
small  section  of  the  country,  for  the  literary  and,  to  a 
large  extent,  the  political  activity  of  Germany  was  then 
concentrated  upon  Swabia,  Bavaria,  and  Austria,  while 
the  North  and  the  Northeast  remained  much  less  active. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  I2th  and  during  the 
first  half  of  the  13th  century,  knighthood  in  these  south- 
ern parts  of  Germany  became  decimated  owing  to  the 
continuous  bloody  wars  in  which  Germany  was  en- 
gaged. I  need  not  give  here  a  complete  review  of  the 
political  history  of  that  time  inasmuch  as  the  historical 
documents  fail  to  give  an  answer  to  the  question  that 
would  interest  us  most,  namely,  the  question  as  to  the 
loss  of  life  in  the  ranks  of  the  knights.  No  one  has  so 
far  computed  this  loss,  at  least  I  know  of  no  such  at- 
tempt, and  the  histories  that  I  have  consulted  seem  to 
take  no  interest  in  this  question.  And  yet  this  loss  of 
human  life  must  have  been  appalling.  And  the  knights 
who  bore  the  brunt  of  the  battles  suffered  the  greatest 
loss. 

Let  me  instance  only  those  bloody  wars  which,  owing 
to  their  fatal  ultramontane  policy,  the  Hohenstaufen 
dynasty  waged  in  Italy.  Again  and  again  powerful 
German  armies  crossed  the  Alps  in  order  to  crush  the 
flourishing  cities  of  northern  Italy,  especially  Milan. 
Sieges  of  long  duration,  bloody  battles,  constant  guerilla 
warfare,  a  climate  hostile  to  the  northern  warriors, 
famine  and  epidemics,  as  well  as  poison  and  the  dagger 
of  the  Italians,  did  their  work,  and  of  those  glorious 
armies  only  small  remnants  returned  to  Germany. 


APPENDIX  261 


Again  religious  enthusiasm  and  the  spirit  of  ad- 
venture induced  the  best  and  most  energetic  among  the 
German  knights  to  follow  the  summons  of  the  cross. 
Thousands  of  them  perished  or  were  slain  on  the  peril- 
ous marches  through  the  deserts  of  Asia  Minor,  many 
were  carried  off  by  epidemics  in  the  overcrowded  Italian 
ports  before  they  even  could  embark,  while  whole  armies 
were  killed  on  the  fields  of  Palestine. 

Very  great  was  the  loss  of  life  in  Germany  during 
the  constant  wars  between  the  Guelfs  and  the  Ghibel- 
lines,  wars  so  bitter  that  brother  would  rise  up  against 
brother  and  no  mercy  was  shown.  Many  knights  also 
fell  in  the  incessant  border  wars  carried  on  against  the 
Slavs  in  the  attempt  to  regain  the  country  east  of  the 
Elbe  and  to  colonize  it. 

Another  factor  largely  contributing  towards  ex- 
tinguishing the  best  blood  of  knighthood  was  that  the 
service  of  the  church  appealed  to  the  best  and  keenest 
minds  of  that  time.  For  the  higher  positions  in  the 
church  implied  not  only  the  possibility  of  doing  much 
good,  they  meant  honor  and  opportunity,  as  the  whole 
diplomatic  service  and  most  of  the  influential  govern- 
ment positions  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  higher  clergy. 
And,  of  course,  the  men  holding  such  church  positions 
were  forced  to  live  in  celibacy.  A  large  number  of 
knights  joined  one  or  the  other  of  the  semi-religious 
orders  of  knighthood  beginning  to  flourish  at  the  time 
of  the  crusades  and  they,  too,  were  forced  to  live  in 
celibacy.  Asceticism  and  the  spirit  of  renunciation 
drove  many  knights  into  the  monasteries. 

These  factors  combined,  all  of  them  working  with  a 
tremendous  destructive  force,  decimated  in  the  12th  and 
13th  centuries  the  ranks  of  the  German  knights.  But 
knighthood   did   not  only  lose  in  numbers,   it  lost  in 


262  APPENDIX 


quality  and  in  character.  Its  best  blood  disappeared 
and  "  only  the  weaklings  remained  to  propagate  the 
race."  This  was  so  much  the  more  serious  because  the 
more  stable  an  institution  chivalry  had  become  the  more 
exclusive  it  grew.  Its  ranks  were  not  replenished  and 
no  new  blood  was  infused. 

My  conclusion  then  is  simply  this:  Just  as  in  the 
ancient  world  so  in  Germany  towards  the  end  of  the 
middle  ages  the  best  died  out  and,  owing  to  the  social 
and  economic  conditions  existing  in  Germany  during  the 
1 2th  and  13th  centuries,  "  the  best "  were  the  knights. 
And  with  them  died  their  peculiar  culture,  chivalry, 
as  well  as  their  poetry,  a  flower  that  could  grow  on  no 
other  soil.  I  do  not  deny  that  other  causes,  mostly  of 
economic  nature,  contributed  towards  the  decline  of 
knighthood,  but  the  main  factor,  I  hold,  was  the  phys- 
ical degeneration  brought  about  by  the  incessant  wars 
of  that  period.  The  natural  and  inevitable  consequence 
of  this  physical  decay  was  the  mental  decay  of  knight- 
hood, and  a  glaring  symptom  of  this  mental  decay  is  the 
decline  of  German  poetry  in  the  13th  century. 

There  is  a  point  of  contrast,  however,  between  the 
ancient  peoples  and  the  Germans  of  the  13th  century. 
The  gap  between  the  intellectually  strong  class  and  the 
mass  of  the  people  was  much  wider  in  Greece  and  Rome 
at  the  time  of  their  decline  than  in  medieval  Germany. 
As  a  consequence,  with  the  extinction  of  the  best  intel- 
lects in  Greece  and  Rome  the  nation  as  such  suffered  a 
much  greater  loss  than  Germany  did  through  the  loss  of 
its  knighthood.  In  Greece  and  Rome  it  caused  a  lower- 
ing of  the  intellectual  level  of  the  nation  as  a  whole 
which  resulted  in  its  political  downfall ;  in  Germany  it 
meant  only  the  extinction  of  one  class  and  with  it  a  com- 
plete stagnation  of  the  literary  life  of  the  nation,  while 


APPENDIX  263 


intellectual  pursuits  in  other  lines  not  cultivated  by  the 
knights  were  not  affected. 

Slowly  a  new  class,  the  Biirgerstand  {bourgeoisie) , 
arose  to  take  the  place  of  the  Ritterstand,  and  with  the 
growth  of  this  new  class  the  trades  and  callings  which 
they  had  been  following  gradually  developed  into  the 
dignity  of  arts.  Thus  architecture  which  so  far  had 
been  but  a  trade,  assumed  a  predominant  role,  Gothic 
architecture  began  to  flourish,  and  with  architecture 
there  came  the  art  of  the  sculptor  and  the  painter. 
Gradually  the  burgher  appropriated  the  field  once  pre- 
empted by  the  knight,  and  a  new  literature,  which  was 
in  fact  the  obscure  beginning  of  modern  German  litera- 
ture, arose.  As  I  have  stated  before,  this  new  literature 
was  at  first  marked  by  the  tendency  to  imitate  the  older 
models  in  form  and  in  contents.  The  new  poets  seemed 
to  have  but  the  one  desire  to  acquire  a  mastery  of  the 
form  and  technic  bequeathed  to  them,  and  so  bent  were 
they  upon  this  labor  that  it  left  them  no  energy  to  find 
a  new  and  original  note.  When  the  burghers  at- 
tempted a  literary  expression  of  their  own  life  they  did 
not  rise  above  the  commonplace,  and  it  is  pitiful  to  see 
how  when  they  feel  the  lack  of  imagination  and  origi- 
nality, they  borrow  expressions  and  figures  from  their 
models,  expressions  which  once  had  a  concrete  meaning 
and  value  for  chivalry  but  which  could  mean  nothing  to 
the  poets  of  a  period  that  had  outgrown  chivalry. 
They  had  not  yet  been  able  to  find  new  poetic  values 
adapted  to  their  own  way  of  thinking.  Poetic  imagina- 
tion had  doubtless  been  concentrated  in  knighthood  and 
when  knighthood  died  German  literature  came  to  an 
abrupt  and  total  standstill. 


264  APPENDIX 


I.     PEACE  AND  DEGENERACY^ 

Will  H.  Irwin. 

No  war  in  history  was  ever  so  severe  as  this.  What 
we  call  civilization  has  produced  most  powerful  and 
subtle  devices  for  taking  life.  Conversely,  no  other 
war  has  brought  forth  such  remarkable,  such  excep- 
tional human  courage.  Those  who  advocate  war  for 
war's  sake  are  illogical  and  wrongheaded  in  nothing 
so  much  as  in  their  illusion  that  men  "  grow  soft  in 
peace,"  that  without  war,  the  "  manly  qualities  die 
out." 

The  Canadians  who  scaled  "  Hill  60 "  at  Ypres 
were  raw  troops  judged  by  the  old  standards  and  they 
came  from  a  dominion  that  has  been  at  peace  for  a 
century.  It  is  futile  to  say  they  were  *'  backwoods- 
men "  and  therefore  accustomed  to  something  re- 
sembling war.  Some  of  them,  it  is  true,  were  wheat 
farmers  of  the  Saskatchewan,  miners  of  the  Klondike, 
or  voyageurs  of  the  great  rivers.  Further,  not  a  few 
were  native  born  citizens  of  the  untamed  Western 
United  States.  But  as  many  or  more  left  desks  in 
Montreal,  Ottawa  or  Vancouver  to  go  to  war. 

When  war  is  forced  upon  a  nation,  as  it  has  been 
upon  the  more  civilized  nations  of  Western  Europe,  it 
is,  of  course,  necessary  to  fight  back.  It  is  especially 
necessary  in  this  case,  if  you  believe  in  maintaining  a 
blood-bought  democracy.  But  let  us  be  honest,  even 
in  the  midst  of  the  struggle.  Peace  has  brought  to 
Europe,  not  decadence,  but  such  manly  fiber  as  the 
world  never  knew  before.  Perhaps  this  has  happened 
because  the  men  of  manly  fiber  have  had  a  chance  un- 

^  From  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle. 


APPENDIX  265 


der  peace  to  live  and  breed  their  kind.  One  suspects 
that  just  to  live  well  in  this  complex,  modern  world 
' —  to  be  deaf  to  siren  songs,  to  be  calm  in  adversity, 
to  keep  working,  to  endure  bereavement  and  disap- 
pointment, to  break  untrodden  ways  through  the 
wilderness  of  industry,  commerce  and  science  —  that 
all  this  breeds  enough  of  manly  fiber.  After  this  war 
let  no  worshiper  of  bleeding  gods  put  in  his  sermons 
of  valor  the  statement  that  peace  breeds  degeneracy. 
It  is  not  peace  which  does  this;  it  is  too  much  war. 


llllllilllllllllllllllillHil 
AA    000  997  140 


